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November 22, 2006

Putin Warns Europe Against 'Obsolete Models'

Russian President Vladimir Putin (file photo) (ITAR-TASS)

November 22, 2006 -- Russian President Vladimir Putin says some in Europe are trying to fit EU-Russian relations into the "obsolete model of 'friend or foe,'" but there is nothing to fear from growing interdependence.

Putin's remarks come in an article for the "Financial Times."


Putin doesn't name names in his article, but it comes with Poland blocking consensus in the EU on a mandate for talks with Russia on a new strategic partnership.


Poland wants Russia to first end or promise to end a ban on Polish food imports.


On November 21, Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski said Poland would drop a threatened veto on the talks if the EU met conditions Warsaw had set out in a letter to the Finnish EU presidency.


Officials are hoping to start talks on the new EU-Russian cooperation pact at a summit in Helsinki on November 24.


(Reuters)


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