Russia judges have left victorious EU summit, which ended without sanctions
Russia believed to have emerged victorious on Tuesday the European Union summit held on Monday in Brussels, where leaders of the bloc refrained from inflict sanctions in response to its military intervention in Georgia.
"To thank God, common sense triumphed," judged the Russian prime minister, Vladimir Putin. "We do not see any conclusions or extreme proposal" in the final declaration of the summit "and this is all very well," he said.
"Essentially," said the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, demanding sanctions against countries that Russia "were in the minority" and "showed a majority of responsibility and confirmed its policy of cooperation with Russia."
As for the concrete results of the summit, namely the postponement of negotiations on the agreement expanded Russia-EU cooperation, the chancery merely "regrettable".
"Over the past two years, Russia has become accustomed to the artificial obstacles" in these negotiations, according to a press release.
But the ministry warned, "our cooperation is mutually advantageous and its benefits are so important that it would be at least unwise issues".
The 27 decided to postpone the second round of negotiations with Russia provided 15 and September 16, while Russian troops remain deployed on Georgian territory beyond their positions prior to conflict, which erupted on August 8.
The Georgian president, Mikhail Saakashvili, welcomed that decision, which he described as "very important step."
The Russian president, Dimitri Medvedev, for his part regretted that the EU "has not totally understood" the reasons for the Russian offensive against Georgia or the recognition of the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
The Russian newspapers hailed the "victory" diplomatic government to avoid sanctions by the EU.
"Europe can continue sucking our oil and gas," said headlines in the tabloid Tvoi Den. The holder is accompanied by a caricature of the British prime minister Gordon Brown, his chancellor David Miliband and Polish president Lech Kaczynski with the legend: "The EU does not surrendered to the hysterical."
The fact that the EU does not take penalties "seems to prove, at least so far, a clear victory for supporters of dialogue with Moscow," said the newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta.
During the summit, French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, who holds the EU presidency, announced that it would visit Moscow and Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, next Monday along with the president of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Durao Barroso and the head of EU diplomacy, Javier Solana, to verify the withdrawal of Russian troops.
Russia launched on August 8 a military offensive in Georgia in response to the operation of the Georgian army to try to regain control of the pro-Russian separatist region of South Ossetia.
