Word: moscow
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...Putin that America's ties with Ukraine and Georgia are based on shared values - they're both democracies - and strategic interests, including the protection of vital oil and gas supply routes. To underscore that point, Biden plans to visit Kiev and Tbilisi shortly after the President's trip to Moscow. The Vice President's visit, says Blacker, will "demonstrate to the Russians that we have equities in the region." (See pictures of Joe Biden...
Officially, Moscow says it doesn't mind the U.S. having friends among the former Soviet satellites. But Russia draws the line at either Ukraine and Georgia joining NATO. NATO's eastward expansion since the end of the Cold War - it now numbers three former Soviet Republics among its members, and most of the East European states that were once bound to Moscow in the Warsaw Pact - has been a dreadful blow to Russian pride. Dimitri Simes, president of the Nixon Center, believes a quiet agreement is possible: "Privately, Obama can tell the Russians that there are no plans...
...while Russia's relations with the U.S. have been thawing since Barack Obama took over the White House, E.U.-Russia relations remain frosty. Talks about a new bilateral treaty on political and economic cooperation have made little headway. Hopes for a free trade agreement between Brussels and Moscow have withered after Russia last week put its application for membership in the World Trade Organization on ice. E.U.-Russia energy cooperation remains stuck, which increases the risk of yet another gas crisis this year. Europeans have responded to Moscow's ideas about constructing a "new European security architecture" with a distinct...
...Moscow is particularly unhappy about the E.U.'s offer to include Belarus - traditionally a staunch Moscow ally - in the Eastern Partnership, albeit on the condition that Minsk improve its shoddy human-rights record. When the E.U. recently offered a multibillion-dollar loan to help modernize the Ukrainian pipeline system - conduit for 70% of Russian gas sales to Europe - Russian leaders were furious. Moscow has also tried to foil European attempts to build stronger energy links with Azerbaijan. Potential for conflict exists in Georgia, where E.U. observers are the only ones left after Russia forced Organization for Security and Cooperation...
Wary of ceding influence to Europe, the Russians have stepped up efforts to maintain their traditional fighting weight in the region. They have given large loans to neighbors hit by the economic crisis and sought to strengthen regional security and economic organizations that tie their neighbors closer to Moscow. They have also taken a more hands-on approach to "frozen conflicts" in Moldova and the Caucasus to keep neighboring governments on their toes...