Russian and European Union leaders met Thursday for a summit in a Trans-Siberian Railway city deep in Russia's Far East, seeking to set their rocky relationship back on track after a series of crises.
Security, energy and the financial crisis were topped the agenda in Khabarovsk, the most easterly venue ever chosen for an E.U.-Russia summit, after Russia's war with Georgia and the gas crisis with Ukraine severely dented ties.
The choice of Khabarovsk as summit venue - seven time zones from Moscow and close to the Chinese border - is seen as a signal from Russia that the E.U. is not its only partner and its Asia-Pacific ties are growing
The two-day summit however opened with affable smiles and open-necked shirts as President Dmitry Medvedev welcomed Czech President Vaclav Klaus, whose country holds the E.U. presidency, and E.U. Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso.
Alongside E.U. foreign policy chief Javier Solana and other top officials, they took an informal working dinner outside Khabarovsk and were later to cruise along the mighty Amur River which flows from China into Russia.
"Regular and frank political dialogue is the right way to manage our relationship and it must prevail in all times, no matter how difficult the issues at stake are," Barroso said ahead of the summit.
Medvedev's top foreign policy aide, Sergei Prikhodko, said at the top of the summit agenda was "cooperation in overcoming the financial crisis" that has engulfed Russia and Europe in recent months.
The two sides were to have more formal talks Friday morning followed by a news conference later in the day.
Ties with the European Union, Russia's largest trading partner, were unsettled by its August war with Georgia and subsequent recognition of two Georgian breakaway regions as independent, which the E.U. vehemently opposed.
Then in January came the gas crisis with Ukraine which saw Russia cut off supplies to several E.U. states for two weeks and prompted Barroso to cast doubt on its reliability as an energy partner.
The E.U. is also waiting for Russia to shift on the issues which are blocking its bid to join the World Trade Organization, including taxes on European airlines overflying Siberia and taxes on wood imports.