<DIV>Fascinating that the EU seems to have done a quid pro quo with Russia <BR>- Kyoto approval for WTO membership. The U.S. can't be happy about <BR>either right now. Russia inside the WTO could only expand the <BR>Brazil-China-G20+ bloc, and if Kyoto goes into full effect, which it <BR>will should Russia sign, the U.S. will look even more isolated and <BR>weird.<BR><BR>Doug<BR>---</DIV> <DIV>If I recollect aright, the EU dropped its insistence that Russia raise rates for oil and gas for domestic consumers as a prerequisite for WTO entry.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Here's a Friday Moscow Times op-ed in Russia-EU relations you might find interesting.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Whither EU-Russian Relations?</DIV> <DIV><FONT class=bl><FONT color=gray>By Katinka Barysch </FONT></FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT class=textar>On Friday, the EU and Russia convene for one of their six-monthly summits. Brussels officials still cringe (and many Russians snigger) when they think about the last one. The last meeting, held in Italy in November 2003, exposed some of the deeper flaws in EU-Russian relations, and in the EU's nascent common foreign and security policy more generally. </FONT></DIV> <DIV> <P align=left class=textar>National governments have often discarded pre-agreed EU positions to push for their own interests and strengthen personal bonds with President Vladimir Putin. But Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who held the EU's rotating presidency at the time, went one step too far. When journalists grilled Putin on brutalities in Chechnya and the arrest of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Berlusconi rushed to his defense, accusing the press of distorting the truth. Romano Prodi, president of the European Commission and Berlusconi's arch rival, looked on in despair.</P> <P align=left class=textar><A href="http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2004/05/21/006.html">http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2004/05/21/006.html</A></P></DIV><p> <hr size=1><font face=arial size=-1>Do you Yahoo!?<br>Yahoo! Domains - <a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=23613/*http://smallbusiness.promotions.yahoo.com/offer">Claim yours for only $14.70/year</a>