On June 26-27, European Union leaders met Russian president Dmitry Medvedev to discuss future relations between the bloc and its big neighbour. The two giants have often been at odds with each other, a situation considerably exacerbated over the past couple of years as a result of the hard-line tone of former president of the ex-Soviet fortress Vladimir Putin and the obstruction of talks on concluding a new bilateral pact by former Soviet satellites and current EU members Poland and Lithuania.

The two sides decided to open negotiations on a new EU-Russia strategic agreement “that will provide a comprehensive framework for the bilateral relations for the foreseeable future and will help to develop the potential of the relationship” between the European bloc and the Russian Federation. Janez Jansa, the Slovenian prime minister, whose country held the EU’s presidency until July 1, when France took over, defined the step as a “new beginning”. As talks are just about to start, a number of issues remain to be settled in order to prove that this new beginning will lead somewhere else instead of the same old dead end.

The summit was held in the Siberian town of Khanty-Mansiysk, a tiny settlement by Russian standards, yet a symbolic one, given the enviable progress it has enjoyed in recent years as a result of oil production. On June 27, Medvedev, Jansa, together with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, spent three hours discussing the thorny issues in EU-Russia ties and came out looking more relaxed than after any of their meetings with Putin. Obviously, during his first encounter with officials of the European bloc in his capacity of Russian president, Medvedev managed to bring a sense of ease to the relations tensed by his predecessor.

“I thought he was good today. He appeared less confrontational and lecturing than we have known,” one unnamed EU official said, as quoted by the Financial Times. “Medvedev is no less effective in getting across his point of view, but he seems more thoughtful, more prepared to reflect on whether policies need to be refined.”

Jansa said that the atmosphere during the meeting was “very friendly”, while Barroso described it as “very open, relaxed and constructive”.

“A spirit of warmth, sincerity and partnership prevailed at our talks and this is very important for the future,” Medvedev said in prepared remarks, posted on the Russian presidency’s website. All in all, the long-needed change of tone was made present – a favourable portent for the future talks on various issues that need to be discussed.

And issues were not scarce in number. To start with, after agreeing to begin talks on the new agreement on July 4 in Brussels, the European officials and Medvedev differed on what exactly the nature of this agreement should be. Medvedev insisted on it being a “fairly brief framework document without excessive detail” to emphasise the strategic nature of bilateral relations, while his EU counterparts said they preferred it to be more comprehensive and detailed.

Medvedev re-iterated the Russian stance against the EU allowing United States to deploy missile defence facilities in Central and Eastern Europe. He also voiced his idea of starting talks on creating an all-European security mechanism out of the Nato framework.

“A worrying trend, in our view, is the transformation of EU solidarity into an instrument for resolving the bilateral problems of individual EU member countries,” Medvedev said, regarding the problems caused by Poland and Lithuania, who, since 2006, have been blocking the start of negotiations on the new agreement because of their disputes with Russia. The first EU-Russia agreement was signed in 1997 for a 10-year period. As a result of the objections of the two former members of the communist bloc, though, the EU managed to secure a decision to start talks on the new pact only in May 2008, months after the expiry of the first one. In Khanty-Mansiysk, however, it was decided that the 1997 agreement will remain in force until the new one is negotiated.

Taking another shot at former Soviet republics, Medvedev said he was worried about the rights of the Russian minorities in the Baltic States. “We continue to be concerned about the situation with the rights of our compatriots in Latvia and Estonia,” he said.

Other important issues raised during the summit include the fate of food prices and climate change; democracy and terrorism; tension in Abkhazia, Iran, Moldova, the Middle East; and, inevitably, energy and trade. While Russia is the EU’s third biggest trade partner after the US and China, the EU provides the biggest amount of foreign direct investments to the federation. Moreover, 50 per cent of Russian exports go to the European bloc, while 25 per cent of its natural gas supplies come from Russia.

 Trade between the EU and the Russian federation has tripled since 2000 and was worth about 233 billion euro in 2007.

Whether the hopes for a change of tone after the Khanty-Mansiysk summit will come true remains to be seen. All eyes are now on Medvedev and on how he will handle the hard-line legacy of his predecessor.