Putin: Russia ‘confident’ EU will regain strength

Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday said he was “confident” the European Union’s economy would regain strength, and praised Brussels for the steps it was taking to handle stagnant growth.“We are confident in the determination of the European leaders,” Putin said at a press conference in the Baltic port city of St Petersburg, the site of the 29th annual Russia-EU summit.“We do not expect any serious upheavals (of the eurozone’s economy) and in any case we are in a position to react quickly to the situation, however it develops,” Putin said.While the economy, energy and trade were on the agenda, there were discussions on the situation in Syria, a key Russian ally.EU President Herman Van Rompuy said Russia and the European Union have “divergent assessments” on the Syrian crisis, but both agree on the need to implement the peace plan of UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan.The plan “as a whole provides the best opportunity to break the cycle of violence in Syria, avoiding a civil war and finding a peaceful, lasting solution,” Van Rompuy said.“We need to combine our efforts in order for this to happen and to find common messages on which we agree,” said the EU leader, standing alongside Putin.While Putin and Van Rompuy spoke to journalists for more than 50 minutes, the Russian leader never mentioned the question of Syria.Moscow has been reluctant to criticise its ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and insists that both the government and the opposition are to blame for the violence.Van Rompuy and European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso, who led the European delegation to the summit, had said it was devoted to discussions primarily of bilateral economic issues.Putin said an important theme in the two days of talks was the eurozone’s stalled economy, and falling European demand for Russian energy and industrial commodities. Reduced revenues to Russia from the EU, Russia’s largest trading partner, would not cause significant damage to his country’s national budget, he said.Van Rompuy told reporters he expected the EU’s economy to show net growth in 2013 and that economic recovery was already in progress in many Western nations in the union. The euro would remain a stable currency, he said.Russia and the EU remain apart on a Brussels initiative to liberalise its energy markets, in part, by banning natural gas traders from owning distribution networks within the region. The plan could force Russia’s powerful natural gas monopoly Gazprom to divest itself of ownership of expensive gas pipelines it has built or purchased in several European nations.“It is no secret that we are divided on this,” Putin said.Also discussed was a longstanding Russian initiative to obtain visa-free travel rights for its citizens in the EU, and Barroso said negotiations on the issue “were moving forward ... but this is a matter that must be resolved with 27 individual governments.”Putin said: “It is our position that worries (by the EU) about illegal Russian migrant workers and criminals are overblown. Whatever criminals that want to go to the EU are already there. The people that suffer ... are honest businessmen and citizens.”Responding to a reporter’s question about opposition allegations that his government arrests and jails political opponents, Putin said recent detentions of anti-government demonstrators came after violations of “democratic” lawful assembly laws.He said that if his critics disliked his leadership of the country “they should form their own political party.”