By Paul Taylor
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union needs to grow upand stop letting negotiations on closer ties with Russia betaken hostage by new member states that were once Sovietsatellites, Moscow's envoy to Brussels said on Tuesday.
Ambassador Vladimir Chizhov said that after 18 months ofwaiting for the 27-nation EU to agree a negotiating mandate,Russia was in no hurry for new strategic partnership talks.
"If the European Union needs time to mature, as itobviously does, then so be it," Chizhov told a news conference.
"We would certainly wish to avoid seeing this negotiatingprocess being taken hostage by certain interests of individualmember states wishing to pursue their own agenda that haslittle or nothing to do with EU-Russia relations," he said.
Poland and Lithuania vetoed the start of talks in 2006because of a Russian ban on imports of meat and other foodproducts from Poland, and the suspension of Russian oilsupplies to a Lithuanian refinery sold to a Polish company.
Warsaw has indicated it is ready to drop its objectionafter Moscow lifted the meat embargo earlier this year. EUdiplomats say they hope Vilnius will remove its veto later thismonth after member states appended a statement to thenegotiating mandate setting out concerns about energy security.
Barring a last-minute hitch, EU foreign ministers shouldadopt the mandate on April 28 and the talks could be launchedat an EU-Russia summit in Siberia on June 26-27 -- the firstwith President-elect Dmitry Medvedev, the diplomats said.
Chizhov said he was not privy to internal EU wrangling butwas aware of "intentions on the part of one or severalcountries to load the mandate with certain additions orannexes".
If the EU negotiators "have their hands tied behind theirbacks by certain national annexes" it would not be conducive toa successful outcome to the talks, he said.
The EU wants the new agreement to cover the full range ofrelations between Russia and the bloc, including trade, energy,migration, human rights and political cooperation.
Chizhov said the treaty should set out general principlesof the relationship but might leave detailed bindingarrangements on specific sectors to later sectoral agreements.
Russia is the EU's biggest energy supplier, providing aquarter of its gas needs. Brussels is keen to use the talks totry to force open Moscow's gas pipeline network to third partytraffic, breaking the monopoly of state-owned Gazprom.
(editing by Alison Williams)
