* Police violently break up protests during opening dinner
* EU says democratization key to cooperation with Russia
* EU bidding to boost trade, may seek assurances on euro
By Conor Humphries
ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia, June 1 (Reuters) - Russian President
Dmitry Medvedev and European Union leaders discussed boosting
trade and economic cooperation on Tuesday at a summit
overshadowed by a violent crackdown on opposition protests in
Russia's main cities.
Police beat protesters and detained dozens demonstrating in
Moscow and St. Petersburg on Monday as Medvedev sat down for
dinner with EU President Herman Van Rompuy and European
Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. []
Medvedev has repeatedly pledged to boost the respect for
human rights. The softer tone that he brought to the Kremlin
when he replaced Vladimir Putin in 2008 has contributed to a
warming of ties with the West in recent months.
Top of the agenda at the two-day summit in the southern city
of Rostov-on-Don is the launch of a new Partnership for
Modernisation, under which the EU would provide technology,
training and investment in return for reforms to boost
democratisation and make Russia's economy more open.
Medvedev, who has made modernisation and innovation
watchwords of his presidency, says European technology is needed
to wean the economy off its reliance on energy exports, which
contributed to a 7.9 percent collapse in GDP last year.
At the start of talks on Tuesday, Van Rompuy suggested that
Russia must improve democracy in order to modernize.
"Your choice to base Russia's modernization in the 21st
century on democratic values and building a modern economy
implies significant development," Van Rompuy said. Like the EU,
"Russia is also at a crossroads," he said.
But neither Van Rompuy or Barroso mentioned the crackdown on
protesters in Saint Petersburg and Moscow on Monday in which
dozens of people were detained. Opposition group the Left Front
said one of its members was detained to prevent him taking part
in an anti-Kremlin protest near the summit venue in Rostov.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
Rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty
International urged the EU leaders not to go easy on Moscow
during the talks. The United States criticised the crackdown on
Monday, saying it violated freedom of expression and assembly.
Russia's own human rights ombudsman, Vladimir Lukin, told
Ekho Moskvy radio that police violated the law at the Moscow
rally by using force against peaceful protesters.
In a letter published on Monday in The Moscow Times
newspaper, prominent figures including former Czech President
Vaclav Havel and Nobel Peace laureate Desmond Tutu questioned
Kremlin pledges to improve human rights.
"We ask Medvedev and urge the Russian government to protect
people in danger and to ensure quick and effective
investigations into the murders of human rights activists," they
said.
On the financial front, EU leaders hope for assurances that
Russia will avoid actions that could undermine confidence in the
euro. Russia's Central Bank chairman said on Thursday that "for
now" he saw no need to sell any of the 41 percent of some $450
billion of currency reserves held in euros.
"I want to wish you and your colleagues well ... in the
difficult coordination of resolving the world financial crisis
and the problems that exist in certain countries of the EU,"
Medvedev said on Tuesday. "We gave this significant attention
yesterday."
The EU is also hoping to boost trade with Russia. After
rising for nearly a decade, EU exports to Russia fell sharply
during the financial crisis, dropping to 66 billion euros last
year from 105 billion euros in 2008.
Foreign direct investment in Russia from the EU fell from 25
billion euros in 2008 into negative territory last year.
Human rights and democracy have long been a thorn in ties
between Russia and the West, although tensions have easwed
somewhat since Medvedev took power in 2008. Relations with the
EU and the United States have improved in recent months.
A recently leaked Russian foreign ministry memo called for a
more pragmatic policy with the aim of boosting trade and
investment. Top of their wish list is a cut to restrictions in
Russian investments in strategic firms in the west and an easing
of visa restrictions for Russians travelling abroad.
Russian officials, who reacted furiously to European
hostility to bids by Russian companies to invest in German
carmaker Opel and aerospace group EADS, are hoping the new
modernization drive will reduce restrictions.
Ahead of the summit, Russian officials expressed growing
impatience at the progress in long-running effort to secure
visa-free travel to Europe for Russian citizens, two decades
after the fall of the Iron Curtain.
The Kremlin has watched in frustration as, despite the
post-Soviet economic recovery, Brussels scrapped visas for
poorer states such as Bosnia and Albania, but not for Russia.
EU officials, who fear dropping visas could spark a wave of
overstayers and a backlash among voters in western Europe, have
refused to agree to a time-frame for visa liberalisation with
Moscow.
(Writing by Conor Humphries; editing by Paul Taylor)
