Sweden signals thaw in Russia ties
The diplomatic relations between Sweden and Russia are getting better as both Sweden’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister goes to Moscow next Tuesday on a state visit.
Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and Foreign Minister Carl Bildt will meet with both Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitri Medvedev.
Climate change, Russia – EU cooperation and trade are the three main topics on the agenda in the announced meeting with President Medvedev, while environmental issues and the Baltic Sea cooperation are topics for discussion with Prime Minister Putin, reports Radio Sweden.
The chilly diplomatic relations between Russia and Sweden started after Sweden expressed strong criticism of Russia’s human rights record and the conflict over South Ossetia in 2008.
The relation between the two countries has become better over the last six months. When Sweden’s Carl Bildt met with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the Barents Council meeting in Murmansk last October, the atmosphere round the table was easy-going and partly humorous.
Sweden took over the chairmanship of the Barents Euro-Arctic council from Russia at the meeting in Murmansk last fall, as reported by BarentsObserver.
A month later, in November, President Medvedev vistited Stockholm at the EU-Russia summit. Two important issues for the Barents cooperation were on the agenda then; the roadmap towards visa-freedom and the agreement and implementation of the programmes for cross-border cooperation between EU’s northern member states and Russia’s north western regions, BarentsObserver reported.
Read also: Lavrov and Bildt on track for new EU deal
Next week’s Moscow tour will be the first time Fredrik Reinfeldt visits Russia during his tenure as Prime Minister.
The Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter reports that Bildt and Reinfeldt also plan to meet with Human Rights Watch, Centre for Development of Democracy and Human Rights, Carnegie Institute and journalists covering human rights issues.
