Sign of a Chill: EU Doesn't Set Table for Putin

BRUSSELS - President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has for years trumpeted grand ambitions for Moscow's relations with the European Union, pushing to break down visa barriers and urging the creation of what he calls a 'harmonious economic community stretching from Lisbon to Vladivostok.'

On a visit to the Brussels headquarters of the 28-nation bloc on Tuesday, however, Mr. Putin did not even get dinner. That customary courtesy was pulled from a sharply curtailed program - a small sign of the way escalating tensions over Ukraine have scrambled even basic rituals of diplomacy, chilled relations between Moscow and Brussels and taken some of the shine off Mr. Putin's image as a leader who can turn any crisis, even the mayhem in Syria, to his advantage.

As the European Union hosted the Russian leader for an 'E.U.-Russia Summit' that lasted just three hours instead of the usual two days, the pillar of the Kremlin's policy toward Ukraine, President Viktor F. Yanukovych, looked increasingly wobbly in the face of unrest that has spread to Russian-speaking areas previously rock solid in their support of him and his pro-Moscow tilt.

Early Tuesday, Mykola Azarov, the prime minister and a staunch ally of Mr. Yanukovych, resigned hours before the Parliament was due to hold a no-confidence vote that appeared likely to strip him of his powers. His departure was the latest sign of building momentum for the opposition, which first took to the streets in November after Mr. Yanukovych, under heavy pressure from Moscow, abruptly spurned a sweeping trade and political deal with the European Union.

'This is a crucial moment,' said Michael Emerson, the European Union's former envoy to Moscow. 'A few weeks ago it looked as if Putin was winning. Now Putin is losing. This should be the setting for a thorough rethink by both parties, particularly Russia.'

Russia, Mr. Emerson said, needs to show that 'all its talk about a 'common European house' from Lisbon to Vladivostok is not just a slogan and that Ukraine can be comfortable with both the E.U. and Russia.'

The struggle over Ukraine is emblematic of the growing cleavages between Russia and Europe, as each has sought to extend its influence to the populations of the old Soviet Union.

Europe, economically downtrodden, has held forth its model of freedom, tolerance, justice and clean government. Russia, buoyed in recent years by fat energy prices, has been selling success, never mind the niceties of clean government, coupled with religion and conservative social policies.

Until the protesters took to the streets, first in Kiev and then in a host of other towns and cities, it seemed as if Mr. Putin's way - reinforced with a $15 billion loan to Ukraine and discounted gas prices - would win the day.

But the situation in Ukraine now presents a potentially serious headache to Mr. Putin before the opening next month of the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, an event that the Russian president hoped would crown an unbroken run of diplomatic and political successes for the Kremlin.

The sudden bout of turbulence has left some Russian officials speculating openly about the possibility of canceling the loan to Ukraine if a new government should fail to live up to promises made by the old.

But it has left other observers wondering whether Mr. Putin has lost his flair for turning adversity into victory - a talent that caught the world's attention last year when he nimbly upended the Obama administration's efforts to punish Syria over the use of chemical weapons.

Yet even the Syrian government has disappointed Mr. Putin recently, with its officials acting belligerent and unaccommodating at the Geneva peace talks, against a surprisingly unified and professional performance by rebel opposition groups.

The crisis convulsing Ukraine has also left Mr. Putin looking less sure-footed, after he bet heavily on the Ukrainian president's staying power against often unruly opposition forces.

At a news conference on Tuesday in Brussels, Mr. Putin insisted that 'it isn't important for us who's in power' in Kiev, noting that he had previously worked with the jailed opposition leader Yulia V. Tymoshenko when she was prime minister. He said Russia would honor its loan commitments regardless of who ended up running Ukraine.

But he added, 'We would like to be confident we will get this money back.'

Mr. Putin's cooler than usual reception in Brussels does not signal a rupture in relations, and both European and Russian officials stressed a determination to press on with what is officially known as their 'strategic partnership.' Nor did the Russian president leave Brussels entirely empty-handed.

He secured a pledge from Europe to fight terrorism, a largely symbolic step but one that matters to Mr. Putin at a time of heightened fears of violence by Islamist militants seeking to disrupt the Olympics.

As expected, however, Mr. Putin got nowhere on winning easier visas for Russians who want to travel to Europe, a longstanding Russian demand.

'Putin is far less optimistic now, and he believes Russia has no chance of being taken seriously by Europeans,' said Dmitri Trenin, an authority on Russian foreign policy and director of the Carnegie Moscow Center. 'The idea is no longer Russia joining Europe as an associate.'

'It is now a binary construct that includes Eurasian Union and European Union,' he added, referring to the Kremlin's own planned economic bloc with Belarus and Kazakhstan, which is supposed to start up in 2015.

In an unusual recognition of problems by an institution that prefers to play up the positive, Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, the body that represents member states, said the 'open and frank' meetings with Mr. Putin addressed 'the convergences and divergences,' particularly with relations to Ukraine and other common neighbors such as Moldova, which has also been pressured by Moscow to step back from a trade accord with Europe.

Amanda Paul of the European Policy Center, a Brussels research body, said the modest slights and muffled criticisms directed at Mr. Putin only highlighted the European Union's difficulty in forging a united and forceful position.

'Frankly, I doubt Mr. Putin cares at all whether he gets dinner or not. He has his own chef,' Ms. Paul said. European Union leaders, she added, 'don't know how to deal with Putin. They can't deal with him: They are 28, and he is one.'

Russia and Europe have for weeks been trading accusations over Ukraine, with each claiming the other is meddling in the affairs of a sovereign state. Russia last week added to the tit-for-tat recriminations by issuing a lengthy report on what it said were human rights abuses in the European Union. The report scorned what it described as misguided European efforts to impose 'an alien view of homosexuality and same-sex marriage as a norm of life and some kind of natural social phenomenon.'

Mr. Putin added his own characteristic twist on Tuesday, needling European Union officials for visiting an encampment of protesters in the center of Kiev. 'Just imagine how our European partners would react during the crisis in, say, Greece or Cyprus if our foreign minister joined anti-European rallies there,' he said.

Instead of backing off, however, Europe has stepped up efforts to play a role in Ukraine, with a procession of senior officials from Brussels and European Parliament members traveling to Kiev this week to meet government and opposition leaders. Catherine Ashton, the union's foreign policy chief, was scheduled to visit Kiev late in the week but moved the trip forward to Tuesday.

In previous trips to Ukraine, European officials focused on trying to nudge President Yanukovych into reviving the agreement he rejected in November. This week, however, they are working instead to mediate a political settlement to calm escalating tensions.

The opposition insists that any such settlement include Mr. Yanukovych's own departure from power. The European Union has avoided backing such demands but, in coded language, has indicated support for protesters.

Mr. Putin, Mr. Trenin said, certainly did not want to see Mr. Yanukovych lose power to the often anti-Moscow opposition.

But 'this could also be a blessing in disguise for Russia. It can save $15 billion and leave Europe to pay,' Mr. Trenin said.