MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed to "problems" in EU-Russia relations but sought to downplay tensions with Europe in talks with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Tuesday.
"I think that, thank God, there are no conflicts between us. There are differences of opinion on how to decide problems. Both sides wish to resolve this," Putin told Steinmeier.
The German minister had travelled to Moscow in a last-ditch bid to rescue an EU-Russia summit on Friday near the Volga River city of Samara from failure amid spiralling disputes.
"Preparation for the summit is difficult. There are a series of problems that have not been resolved," Steinmeier was quoted by RIA Novosti news agency as saying after the talks with Putin.
With attempts to negotiate a key EU-Russia partnership accord in tatters, there were few signs that Germany's intervention as head of the rotating presidency of the European Union could salvage the summit.
Russia's foreign ministry accused Poland of holding EU-Russia relations "hostage" by blocking discussion of the partnership deal, which would govern key areas, including energy supplies, Interfax news agency reported.
Putin's representative for EU relations, Sergei Yastrzhembsky, said there "is no real sense in discussing an accord on which we cannot negotiate," Interfax reported.
Poland has vetoed negotiations in retaliation for a Russian ban on Polish meat imports, while Lithuania is now also threatening to veto the talks unless Russia resumes oil deliveries to a refinery in the north of the Baltic state.
Warsaw made an additional demand on Tuesday that the 27-member EU must pledge to protect the energy security of Poland and other EU newcomers that rely on Russian oil and gas.
These disputes are fuelling spiralling tensions between Moscow and new EU member countries of formerly Soviet-dominated central Europe.
Estonia is also locked in an ugly war of words with Russia over the relocation of a Soviet-era war memorial in the capital Tallinn. The Baltic republic says that a halving of rail freight from Russia this month amounts to unofficial economic sanctions.
EU-Russia tensions, coupled with increasingly frayed US-Russian ties, are contributing to a dramatic deterioration of East-West relations ahead of presidential election seasons in both Russia and the United States.
Moscow is already in a fierce confrontation with Washington over US plans to deploy an anti-missile system in Poland and the Czech Republic. Russia is also at loggerheads with the European Union and United States over Western-backed plans to give independence to Kosovo, a province in Russian ally Serbia.
Ahead of his Moscow trip, Steinmeier sounded pessimistic about the chances of any breakthroughs.
"I cannot assure you 100 percent whether progress can be made on individual issues, but even if you do not know you must make an attempt," he told reporters in Brussels.
The German foreign policy chief even addressed rumours that the summit could be cancelled, saying "we have to bring an end to these discussions about whether or not the summit will take place."
Russia's Kommersant daily said Steinmeier would be unable "to save the summit from collapse," while the Vedomosti daily called the Samara meeting "senseless."
"The EU-Russian summit will either be a relative failure or a scandalous failure. There will definitely be no negotiations on a partnership agreement. The participants may not even be able to agree on a joint declaration."
05/15/2007 16:05 GMT