Fear of Russian ‘isolation’ after enlargement

Date: 17/01/02

EU enlargement risks creating a continent of 'haves and have-nots' if it involves isolating Russia, a leading US academic has warned.

Angela Stent from Washington's Georgetown University said although the EU would 'gain a block of Russian-speaking members' when it admits Estonia and Latvia, other factors 'posed major challenges'.

These include how the extension of the Schengen agreement on visa-free travel to new member states will involve restricting the mobility of Russians - a problem that will be especially acute in Russia's Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad.

'A Europe in which Russia remains outside the mainstream of European stability and prosperity is not a recipe for long-term security on the continent,' added Stent.

Her comments were made in a series of new studies on EU-Russia relations, presented at a Brussels seminar this week.

Moscow's deputy-director of the Carnegie Centre think-thank Dmitri Trenin said potential exists for joint EU-Russia peacekeeping in the Caucasus. However, he warned that Russia would not accept foreign military involvement in the breakaway republic of Chechnya.

Stephan De Spiegeleire, a researcher with the RAND Europe think-thank, said the EU had 'ratcheted up its institutional relationship with Russia' last October when it agreed to consult Moscow monthly through the Union's political and security committee (COPS). But 'it is unclear whether this new challenge will really live up to Russian expectations', he added.