Summit to draw ex-Soviet republics closer to EU

PRAGUE — The European Union extended its hand to former Soviet republics on Thursday, holding a summit to draw them closer into the EU orbit despite Russia’s deep misgivings.

Presidents, premiers and their deputies from 33 nations are signing an agreement meant to extend the EU’s political and economic ties. Moscow, however, has eyed the EU’s “Eastern Partnership” plan with mistrust, seeing it as yet another way to intrude into its traditional sphere of influence.

The EU will offer its eastern neighbors free trade, millions in economic aid, regular security consultations, economic integration into its single European market, technical expertise and visa-free travel.

The partnership obliges the neighbors to commit to democracy, the rule of law and sound economic and human rights policies.

“The Eastern Partnership will seek to support political and socio-economic reforms of the partner countries, facilitating approximation toward the European Union,” says a draft of the summit’s final statement, obtained by The Associated Press.

The six ex-Soviet republics to whom the partnership would apply are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine — countries with widely differing relationships both with Moscow and the West.

Particularly problematic are Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, and Vladimir Vorodin, his Moldovan counterpart, are sending lower-ranked deputies, trying not to rile Russia and recognizing that some EU government oppose their presence.

Lukashenko runs Belarus like a Soviet-style economy, and Moldova’s disputed April 5 election triggered violent protests in which two people died and hundreds were detained or mistreated.

Russia’s war last summer with Georgia and the January cutoff of Russian gas deliveries to western Europe via Ukraine added impetus to the EU’s outreach program, but also created issues, because Moscow views Western moves toward these two countries with particular rancor.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov canceled a May 19 meeting at NATO’s Brussels headquarters to protest the alliance’s military exercises this week in Georgia. Moscow also strongly opposes U.S. support for Georgia and Ukraine to become NATO members.