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View Full Version : Russian President Medvedev opts for good relations with Sweden



Breerman
11-18-2009, 01:38 PM
Translation by Google Translate
http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article6146643.ab



Medvedev played down the conflict with the Swedish foreign minister

Foreign Minister Carl Bildt is forgiven in Moscow. At the summit between Russia and Europe today, President Medvedev every effort to downplay the conflict between our countries.

http://i48.tinypic.com/30a5bw8.jpg

- This is something new from the Russian side, "said Alexei Venediktov, editor of the Russian radio station Echo Moscow to Aftonbladet.

Last autumn was the Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt is not welcome in Moscow. The background was his sharp statements in connection with the armed conflict between Russia and Georgia in August 2008. It mainly did the Russians were furious Bildt's comparison of Russia's invasion of Georgia with Hitler's conduct during World War II. The relationship between our two countries have been frosty since. But today was the thaw when President Dmitry Medvedev visited Stockholm for the summit between the EU and Russia.

- Carl Bildt to hasty, said Medvedev told a news conference after the meeting.

"No problem"

- The relationship between our countries may not have developed so actively during this time. But the talks yesterday and today bear witness that there is a willingness to develop relations. There are no problems.

The Russian radio station Echo Moscow's outspoken chief editor Alexei Venediktov, on site in Stockholm, bounced when he heard President Medvedev.

- Both he and Prime Minister Putin usually respond very strongly to questions that have to do with Georgia. He did not now, but he glossed over by saying that Carl Bildt had acted rashly. It seemed that Medvedev had prepared themselves for this question. There is a new note for Russia's response to what happened in Georgia last year, "says Venediktov to Aftonbladet.

Reinfeldt invited to Moscow

His analysis: The economic crisis which hit Russia hard leaves no room for quarrel.

- The crisis has changed a lot. Russia needs the EU and it seems that Russia has decided to make no big deal of the differences of opinion.

Medvedev also invited Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt to Moscow.

Another issue discussed at the summit between the EU and Russia were the human rights situation in Russia. But at the press conference after the meeting, only Fredrik Reinfeldt who raised the issue.

- We also exchanged views on developments in human rights, particularly the plight of human rights activists in Russia worries us very much, "said Reinfeldt.

"We decide who are brought to justice"

Summit called human rights activists that the EU would react strongly to the human rights crimes committed in Chechnya, especially in recent years.

- What is most important to you: oil and gas or human rights and democracy? Did Osama Bajsajev the organization Memorial to Aftonbladet the meeting.

Russia has more than 100 times convicted of the European Court of human rights violations. Relatives and victims have been compensated financially. But none of the identified perpetrators have been brought to justice. Why? At today's press conference, said President Medvedev that Russia is, no one else who has the right to determine who should be tried in the Russian Federation.

- Anything else would be a joke, and contrary to international law, "said Medvedev.

Breerman
11-19-2009, 11:10 AM
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20091118/156881069.html


01:1218/11/2009

STOCKHOLM, November 18 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev arrived in Stockholm on Tuesday and met with Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt.

Presidential spokeswoman Natalya Timakova said Medvedev's working visit to Sweden began with an unofficial dinner with Reinfeldt, with the two leaders holding bilateral talks ahead of the EU-Russia summit scheduled for Wednesday morning.

"The president and the premier discussed Russian-Swedish relations, bilateral economic cooperation as well as certain topics of the international agenda: Russia-EU interaction, Middle East settlement, Iran, Afghanistan," she said.

On Wednesday, King Charles XII will grant an audience to the Russian president.

Kremlin aide Sergei Prikhodko earlier said Russia welcomes EU reform. The EU reform treaty, called the Lisbon Treaty, now ratified by all 27 member states, will come into force on December 1.

"We hail the Swedish authorities' pragmatism and consistency, which we hope will ensure the effectiveness of both the bilateral meeting and the EU-Russia summit," Prikhodko said, adding the summit was taking place "at a critical point" when "ratification procedures of the Lisbon Treaty are being concluded."

Prikhodko said Russian and EU officials would focus on climate change, efforts to overcome the consequences of the global credit crunch and the issue of energy supplies to Europe.

Russia has called on the European Union to take steps, including financial ones, to prevent problems again arising in Russian natural gas transit via Ukraine to Europe. Russian gas supplies to Europe were halted in January over a debt dispute, leaving much of Europe short of energy.

Prikhodko also said that Moscow and Brussels had already held several rounds of talks on a new partnership and cooperation agreement. The current Russia-EU agreement expired in late 2007, but was automatically extended. In early October, the sixth round of talks on the new agreement took place in Brussels.

Medvedev is also expected to discuss with his European colleagues North Korea's nuclear problem, the situation in Pakistan, and the Cyprus and Kosovo issues. The agenda of talks will also include the issue of European security, Prikhodko said.

Medvedev proposed in the summer of 2008 setting up an organization ensuring peace in Europe, in which no state or organization would have a monopoly.

Hilarious :D

Mango Madness
11-19-2009, 11:41 AM
.......*tumbleweed rolls by*..........

Breerman
11-19-2009, 12:23 PM
All EU leaders did actually as there is a big summit right now during which a number of key decisions will be made.

And not all countries can compare Putin to Hitler and then get Russia to give them a rimjob. :)

shadowsrider
11-20-2009, 09:19 AM
This is obvious consequence of actions.
Sweden just recently withdrew veto against Nordstream --> Russia loves Sweden

Question: did Sweden gain(ed) something?

MZKT
11-20-2009, 12:17 PM
This is obvious consequence of actions.
Sweden just recently withdrew veto against Nordstream --> Russia loves Sweden

Question: did Sweden gain(ed) something?

Russia's love

Breerman
11-21-2009, 02:04 PM
The gas thing played a role.

How I think the think it went down from a Swedish perspective was that the government here early on saw that it would probably take some kind of political strongarming to stop the application process, which in their eyes would set a bad precedent. Swedish and other foreign companies have experienced a lot of trouble with corruption and government intervention in Russia. Even multinational giants like IKEA were asked to pay bribes to get electricity to their facilities (but they chose not to and got diesel generators instead).

When asked about the gas pipe by a Russian envoy in a public meeting a number of months ago, PM Reinfeldt said something about how the application would be treated according to rules and regulations within the judicial system, and added that a Russian company would receive no separate treatment and that he expects the same thing would be the case for a Swedish company in Russia...