Dealing with Russia

Dmitri Medvedev8217;s debut on the international stage at the G8 summit will be scrutinised at home, even more than it is abroad. If nationalists believe that Vladimir Putin, and he alone, put Russia back on the map as a world power, his successor must show that he is just as tough and independent. The youngest man at the summit has to show he is strong and he will not do that by cuddling up to the likes of Gordon Brown.

There were few signs that he did when the two men met for the first time yesterday. Call, as each man might, for a new era, they are still left with concrete, unresolved problems left over from the old one8230; The European debate about Russia vacillates between accommodation and confrontation. To accommodate Russia is to turn a blind eye to the values which lie at the heart of the European project 8212; democratic elections, rule of law, respect for human rights, each of which have suffered painful reverses under Putinism. To confront Russia risks making a bad relationship worse. So, while the EU vacillates in its post-modern way, unable to make up its mind, Russia, in distinctly pre-modern style, divides and rules8230;

It is not enough to hope for a new generation of leaders to emerge. Russia has the leaders it has and we have to deal with them8230; they are overwhelmingly popular because they are seen to be standing up to the all-encroaching influence of the West. But while quick to identify the threat, nationalists are by nature bad at defining the national interest and this is where Europe can shape the debate taking place in Russia. First the EU must realise that what worked in eastern Europe will not necessarily work in the ethnic patchwork of Ukraine. The West must jettison any lingering ambitions it has to anchor pro-Western regimes in Ukraine and Georgia8230; Second, Western governments must use existing agreements and the negotiation of future ones to regulate the conduct of the Kremlin. If Russia wants visa-free access to Europe, it should at least know what it has to do to obtain it. If partnership is no longer the word, pragmatism should be.

Excerpted from a leader in 8216;The Guardian8217;