Russia:A troubled summit between the EU and Russia descended into a slanging match yesterday as both sides exchanged barbs and failed to announce any breakthroughs.
Though the two blocs had conceded there was little likelihood of a deal on a new partnership agreement, they had sought to talk up the "constructive spirit" of their dialogue.
But there was little of this spirit on display, after a day of talks when the three main participants marched tight-lipped into a press conference looking as if they had just been in a row.
Any hopes of a positive atmosphere were already dashed after news came through to the summit venue in Volzhsky Utyos, on the banks of the river Volga, that chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov had been prevented from flying to nearby Samara for a planned "dissenters' march".
The issue was raised by the EU presidency, represented by German chancellor Angela Merkel. Sitting beside Russia's president Vladimir Putin, she emphasised the democratic right to demonstrate and protested that Mr Kasparov and about 20 of his supporters should have been allowed attend the march.
Unimpressed, Mr Putin hit back every time a criticism of Russia was raised by either Ms Merkel or European Commission president José Manuel Barroso. The subsequent exchanges resembled a table tennis game, with each side hitting back in turn with more examples of the other side's failures.
Defending his security forces, Mr Putin insisted they were acting proactively to prevent any violence against Russian citizens. When pressed on his democratic credentials, he replied: "What is pure democracy? It is a question [ of] whether you want to see the glass half full or half empty."
Later his spokesman expanded on the point, insisting that Mr Kasparov was travelling with Edward Limonov, leader of the banned National Bolshevik party, which officially proclaims hardline nationalist policies and opposes the Kremlin. "Limonov is a dangerous man," he said, to justify the move.
A pre-summit dinner at the resort, near the factory town of Togliatti were Lada cars are produced, had also attempted to resolve the ongoing Polish veto. It blocked the start of negotiations on what is intended to be a far-reaching agreement to both widen and deepen European and Russian relations across a wide array of sectors, from energy and trade to freedom of movement.
According to the European Commission's external relations commissioner, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the mood at the dinner was positive with serious efforts made to resolve the veto, which was applied after Russia refused to sanction the export of Polish meat into its territory, citing food safety concerns.
The dialogue had clearly not achieved much. President Putin criticised what he argued was Poland's failure to engage in a bilateral dialogue on the issue, leaving it to Germany to speak on its behalf.
"Thank God for the German chancellor for representing their interests," he said.
Ms Merkel cut across him, insisting she was speaking out on behalf of all member states, that Poland's problem was Europe's problem. The chancellor also insisted that any difficulties new member states, such as Lithuania, Estonia and Poland, had with Russia were concerns for the all of the EU's 27 member states.
Mr Barroso dismissed the concerns of the Russians. He said if there were any health fears about Polish meat, it would not be allowed on sale inside the EU. He asked why, if it was good enough for Europe, it wasn't good enough for Russia.
Mr Putin responded, turning his ire on European agricultural subsidies, which he said could never be justified in his country. He warned that he would take action if Russia was swamped with subsidised EU food.
When the issue of human rights and the plight of Mr Kasparov were repeatedly raised, Mr Putin asked again why Europe did not ask the US about the death penalty or the human rights of detainees in Guantánamo Bay.
He also challenged EU countries about their own record, complaining about the plight of Russian-speaking minorities in Estonia and Latvia, and the death of a Russian citizen in recent riots in Tallinn. He also equated preventative arrests in Germany ahead of the G8 summit with the Russian security forces' action against anti-Kremlin activists, such as Mr Kasparov.
In an apparent bid to defuse the deep anger in Russia at Estonia's recent decision to move a monument to wartime Soviet soldiers, Mr Barroso paid a warm tribute to the sacrifice of Soviet citizens in the second World War in the battle against fascism.
There have been accusations circulating in Russia that pro-Nazi sympathies are on the rise in countries such as Estonia, which are not criticised by the EU.