The Financial Times has an editorial today about the EU-Russia Summit held at the end of this week in Siberia, commenting that if they can begin to “treat each other with the respect they deserve,” then they can finally get over the years of zero progress and establish a framework for closer political and economic competition. I suppose this argument assumes that Europe doesn’t treat Russia with respect. Since when? If anything we’ve seen an extremely obsequious and placating attitude in various European capitals for the Russians, rolling out the red carpet and doing our best to turn a blind eye to authoritarian abuses, when in fact the last election looked a lot more like Zimbabwe’s “one candidate poll.” There’s a major disconnect in Europe’s perception of the Russian reality, and, in many ways, our dishonesty about what’s happened there in recent years in fact creates an enabling influence to worsen conditions and entrench the Kremlin in these current positions holding back the next EU-Russia partnership agreement. I agree with the editorial’s optimism though – I hope that the cards fall in the right way as a result of the clan infighting, providing liberal factions within the government an opportunity to purge the hawks. We’ll see.

LEADER: Hope for a thaw from Siberia A short trip to Siberia is not usually regarded as likely to inspire good sense, even in summertime. If the temperature is not freezing, then it is plagued by ferocious mosquitoes. But there is a chance that the latest summit between leaders of Russia and the European Union, held in a booming west Siberian oil town, could prove the exception. If it marks the moment when Moscow and Brussels start to treat each other with the respect they deserve, it will have been worth it.