For Russian President Vladimir Putin, the expansion of the EU is evidently proving harder to swallow than even the encroachment of the enlarged NATO military alliance on Russia's borders.
The Kremlin boss has on several occasions spoken sharply of the "inability of EU officials in Brussels to appreciate Russia's situation."
Above all, Russia fears separation from crucial, long-term trading partners in central and eastern Europe. Moscow economists forecast an annual loss of 150 million euros (US$183 million)
in various sectors, including the steel industry.
In the space of a few weeks, the three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania will become the first former Soviet republics to join both the EU and NATO.
Ex-socialist bloc satellites like Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia are also taking their place at the western European economic table.
After losing political and military control of these countries in the 1980s, Moscow is now anxious about having to relinquish close economic and cultural ties with them and others in the region.
conciliatory tone
But while top officials guardedly speak of the Russian armed forces' "battle readiness," as the NATO presence along the border is assessed, a more conciliatory tone is sought over the new EU.
"There can be no talk of any crisis here, this is rather about misunderstandings," said Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Chizhov.
Western diplomats in Moscow, meanwhile, concede that the sides' expectations of one another were previously too high.
If diplomatic ties with some new EU members are on an even keel, relations between Russia and the Baltics however remain strained.
There are almost weekly vilifications in Moscow of discriminatory measures against the large ethnic Russian communities in Estonia and Latvia. Chief complaints concern language rights, schooling and citizenship.
But despite the harsh portrayal of the deprivations, few ethnic Russians choose to return to their historical motherland, where the standard of living is markedly lower.
Economically, the union enlargement will boost the share of EU states in Russia's foreign trade from 36 percent to more than 50 percent.
But export hopes of Russian manufacturers are largely dashed since many products fail to meet EU standards and are unable to compete internationally.
The ace in Putin's hand, however, remains Russia's importance as chief energy supplier to many countries in the larger EU, where demand is rising above all for natural gas.
Politically, Russia may find
it increasingly hard to find a common language with the 25 more or less egalitarian states
of the new union.
It observes with some unease the inevitable shifts inside the new union space. Former Iron Curtain countries between Berlin and Moscow are jostling to take places in the EU fold, with foreign policy tending to align more toward the US than one-time big brother Russia.
HOPE
One major dispute jointly resolved by Russia and the EU in recent years has, however, given hope for more breakthroughs in the period to come.
The future of the 1 million Russian citizens living in the Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad, formerly the Prussian territory
of Koenigsberg, had long clouded relations.
Hemmed in by future EU members Poland and Lithuania, Russia's outpost on the Baltic Sea was threatened with isolation from the motherland.
After tough and prolonged negotiations, introduction of simplified visa regulations and a transit route through Lithuania overcame the deadlock.
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