Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday greeted German Chancellor and European Union President Angela Merkel and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso as they arrived for informal talks ahead of the EU-Russia summit in Samara, according to dpa. Friday's talks were aimed at defusing tensions in the relationship between Russia and the EU. "There are problems for which however one can find solutions," said Barroso upon arriving in Samara, some 1,000 kilometres south- east of Moscow. The upcoming meeting was overshadowed by a war of words between Moscow and Warsaw over the issue of Russia's embargo against Polish meat and Poland's retaliatory move to block a new EU-Russian partnership treaty. Polish Foreign Minister Anna Fotyga on Thursday called the Russia embargo, in place since November 2005, a "declaration of war." Plans for a new EU-Russia partnership agreement have been shelved as a result of diplomatic rows between Moscow and EU nations Poland and Estonia, the main obstacles to the agreement being the meat imports issue and the row between Russian and EU-member Estonia over the relocation of a Soviet-era war memorial. Merkel persistently stressed before her trip to Samara that EU interests were in a "strategic partnership" with Russia, with Putin himself showing signs of conciliation, praising both sides for their readiness to put aside their differences. Circles close to the Russian government have however been pressing Putin to take an uncompromising stance in negotiations with the EU. Meanwhile, Russian police on Sunday arrested several human rights activists and Putin opponents in the lead-up to anticipated opposition protests on the sidelines of Friday's summit.
