EU gives cautious welcome to Medvedev pledges

HELSINKI (Reuters) - A top European Union official on Thursday welcomed a pledge by Russia's new president to protect freedoms and improve the rule of law, but said it remained to be seen if this would become a reality.

Days before the Slovenian EU Presidency was to travel to Lithuania to try to resolve a dispute blocking talks on a new EU cooperation pact with Moscow, EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn also stressed the need for EU unity in dealing with Russia.

"In order to succeed in these negotiations, the EU must achieve greater unity first," Rehn said in a speech in Helsinki, referring to talks on a planned Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with Russia.

"Russia is a master of 'divide and rule'," he said, "so it is up to the EU to get its act together."

Rehn noted that while promising continuity with his predecessor Vladimir Putin, Russia's new president, Dmitry Medvedev, had also emphasised freedom, the rule of law and economic modernisation when he was sworn in on Wednesday.

"We welcome this approach, but are keen to see what it means in practice," he said, adding that the first opportunity to test this would be a June 26-27 summit with Russia in Siberia.

Rehn said the European Union needed to pursue "realistic and pragmatic engagement" with Russia, given its reliance on Russian energy supplies and given Moscow did not share core EU values of respect for democracy, rule of law and fundamental freedoms.

"I don't believe we could achieve our goals with a new policy of containment, as some have suggested. Neither is there room for any policy of appeasement stemming from wishful thinking," he said.

Rehn said that while the European Union was working to increase self-sufficiency in energy and creating new import routes through Southeastern Europe, 40 percent of its gas imports came from Russia and it would long remain dependent on Russian supplies.

Stressing the need for unity in dealings with Russia, he said the best results had always been achieved when the bloc presented a coherent approach.

"Our biggest shortcomings have been in areas where the common EU policies are not so strong, such as energy security," he said.

Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel will travel to Vilnius on Monday after EU foreign ministers failed last week to agree on a mandate for talks with Russia due to Lithuanian objections.

Lithuania is demanding assurances on Russian energy supplies, judicial cooperation and policy on frozen conflicts in breakaway areas in other former Soviet republics, notably Georgia and Moldova.

The former Soviet republic was the only country to oppose the mandate, prolonging an 18-month-old deadlock that has prevented the EU opening negotiations on the pact covering trade and political partnership.

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom, editing by Mark John and Mary Gabriel)

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