Putin Blows Off Steam Over Baltics at EU Summit

Leaders of the European Union and Russia on Tuesday said they were making progress toward closer ties, but an angry outburst from Russian President Vladimir V. Putin against demands from Baltic nations highlighted continued strains in the relationship.

The EU-Russia summit held here adopted an agreement to boost cooperation in four broad fields: economy and trade; freedom and justice; external security; and scientific research, education and culture. Implementation of those plans “will allow us to significantly promote building a united Europe without dividing lines,” Putin said at a news conference, during which he and European leaders emphasized growing friendship but alluded to tough negotiations.

“Russia and the European Union are not yet on their honeymoon, but it is true love,” said Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, whose country holds the EU’s rotating presidency. “It is not easy to negotiate with President Putin, who is absolutely certain he has to protect the interests of his country.”

Earlier in the day, speaking at a reception, Putin had goodnaturedly referred to a tough negotiating style on the Europeans’ part as well.

“Of course, it is difficult to negotiate. Sometimes I thought some of our European partners would drive our ministers to heart attacks,” Putin said.

The European Union and Russia are seeking to expand already extensive trade ties, with EU countries hungry for Russian oil and natural gas. They also hope to build a friendship between neighbors strong enough to ensure that there can be no renewal of the decades-long Cold War tensions.

The joint news conference, which concluded three days of meetings and festivities to mark the 60th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, included many warm words. Juncker praised “the decisiveness and bravery of the Red Army” during the war, and said European leaders had wanted to “pay tribute to the Russian people.”

But when journalists asked questions concerning differing interpretations of history between the Baltic countries and Moscow, Putin used the opportunity to launch a counterattack against his critics in those former Soviet states.

The leaders of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have called on Putin to denounce a 1939 pact between Germany and the Soviet Union that allowed for the wartime division of Eastern Europe between them, and to acknowledge that Soviet forces had occupied the Baltic states against their will. The presidents of Lithuania and Estonia boycotted the Moscow celebrations.

Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga attended, but her government is locked in a dispute with Moscow over the signing of a proposed treaty that would formalize the Latvian-Russian border along the line that was in effect when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

The significance of the dispute does not primarily lie with contested territory, but rather with political problems caused by the lack of a fully recognized border where the European Union now meets Russia. Latvia cannot enjoy all the benefits of EU membership until it has formal Russian recognition of the border. Moscow also would like to see the issue settled.

Putin vehemently denounced Latvia for wanting to attach a declaration to the border treaty that appears to describe it as less than a final settlement.

“Today in Europe in the 21st century, when one country has a territorial claim against another and at the same time wants to ratify an agreement on borders, it’s total nonsense,” Putin said.

Putin spoke even more vehemently in opposition to the idea that Moscow should apologize for incorporating the Baltic states into the Soviet Union. Those countries became independent from Russia as a result of a 1918 peace treaty with Germany during World War I and then became part of the Soviet Union as a result of the 1939 pact, he said.

“That’s history,” he said. “I believe that was a secret bargain in which smaller countries and peoples were treated as petty cash. Deplorably, such were the realities of those days.”

Putin argued that the defeat of Nazi Germany could not mark the start of a Soviet “occupation” of the Baltics. “Once the Baltic countries were made part of the Soviet Union in 1939, there was no occupation in 1945 because they had been part of the country before,” he said. “True, I was not a very bright student at the university, because I drank too much beer after classes, but I still remember the basics quite well. We had very good tutors.”