MOSCOW, Dec 16 (AFP) - Russia could pay a high price for Turkey's adhesion to the European Union, newspapers said here Thursday, fearing for the future of Russian oil and gas exports as well as visa-free access for Russian tourists.
"Farewell, Turkey?", said the Novyia Izvestia on its front-page as EU leaders were gathering in Brussels for a summit due to set a date for the start of accession talks with Ankara.
"Ankara's entry into the EU will cost Russia dearly," said the paper, raising in particular the issue of visa-free access which Russian tourists currrently enjoy.
In 2003, some 1.4 million Russian tourists travelled to Turkey, according to Russian border guards, a 40 percent increase on the previous year, the paper said.
There was also the issue of bilateral trade, which in 2003 stood at 6.2 billion dollars.
Moscow has much to lose if EU rules are imposed, notably on oil exports through the Bosphorous Strait as well as gas supplies to Ankara, the paper said.
"Ankara will be in Brussels," the Kommersant daily said, stressing that it was a "historic chance" for the Europeans to move south.
"To the east, the European Union can only spread as far as Ukraine, and since the Europeans are not in the position to run Russia", it can only expand southwards, the economic daily said.
The daily Nezavissimaya Gazeta was more pessimistic on the success of the "Turkish march" towards Brussels, given the divisions among the 25 EU members.
Even if the answer is "yes", the negotiations will last at least a decade and "the European Union will remain divided on the Turkish question for all those years," the paper said.
12/16/2004 12:17 GMT - AFP