EU and Russia plan joint peacekeeping missions

Russia and the EU could take part in joint peacekeeping missions under plans to be discussed by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Diplomats are currently planning a meeting between the two. Solana could travel to Russia in the coming weeks.

Joint peacekeeping operations have long been talked of as a way of tackling the numerous frozen conflicts around the borders of the former Soviet Union.

Previous efforts to set up joint peacekeeping operations have failed because of arguments over who would command the forces.

But advisers to Solana said that he was keen to get the project off the ground as the EU increases its focus on its eastern borders through an enhanced European neighbourhood policy.

According to one senior European Commission official, "the neighbourhood policy cannot work if we don’t solve the frozen conflicts".

At a meeting with EU foreign policy representatives on 5 February, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov suggested that EU forces joined Russia’s controversial peacekeeping mission in Transdniestria, a breakaway region of Moldova.

Thousands of Russian troops have been stationed in Transdniestria since 1992, despite Moldovan and international demands that Russia reduce its presence.

Council of Ministers officials expect a Putin-Solana meeting to help overcome some of the difficulties that have plagued the plan so far. "It will have to be a meeting at the highest level, ministers will not be able to agree on this," said one diplomat.

Officials are now hoping to replicate successful meetings between Putin and Solana held informally at the Black Sea resort of Sochi in 2005 and 2006.

Although ideas have been put forward to establish separate regional commands, there is considerable opposition among EU member states to any suggestion that EU troops would come under Russian command.

Many diplomats from new member states which belonged to the Warsaw Pact during the Cold War said public opinion made such a plan unthinkable.

Even the idea of joint control over peacekeeping missions was described by one EU diplomat as "difficult to swallow" and diplomats are seeking to find a mechanism that is acceptable to both sides.

A 2002 agreement spells out how Russian soldiers can participate to EU-led missions. But officials are now working on a "general agreement" that would provide a mechanism for joint peacekeeping to take place. This may come as part of a new treaty that the EU and Russia are expected to begin negotiating soon.

But diplomats warn that it would be hard for both parties to agree on a joint peacekeeping mission in Transdniestria, as Russia and the EU have conflicting views on the situation in the region and on the presence of the Russian army there.

"It is too hard, I think we will have to try it somewhere else first," said one EU diplomat.

Observers say that Russia may be keen to reach an agreement with the EU to boost the image of its military, which has been hit by a series of scandals over conscript abuse and corruption.

Russia and the EU could take part in joint peacekeeping missions under plans to be discussed by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Russian President Vladimir Putin.