EU threatens to postpone talks on Russian pact

by Dave Keating | September 2, 2008 at 12:55 am

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After holding crisis talks about the Russian invasion of Georgia in Brussels yesterday, EU leaders have decided to postpone talks that had been scheduled to take place later this month. The talks between the EU and Russia were to discuss a new partnership pact. This comes at the the same time that the Russian foreign minister suggested that without a strong union, European countries would eventually capitulate and do what is best for their own national interests. Were Russia to withhold energy supplies to continental Europe, the continent would be in a very dire situation.

European Union leaders agreed on Monday to postpone talks with Russia on a new partnership pact scheduled for later this month if Moscow has not withdrawn its troops to pre-conflict positions in Georgia by then.

The decision at an emergency summit in Brussels came after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov hailed Moscow's military intervention over the breakaway South Ossetia conflict as setting a new standard for defending its national interests.