Polish FM Radoslaw Sikorski starts a two day visit to Russia, Tuesday evening.

On Wednesday Poland’s head of diplomacy will meet his Russian host Sergei Lavrov.

Deputy FM Andrzej Kremer told reporters  in Warsaw that the Moscow visit consists of two important entities: bilateral discussions between the two countries’ foreign ministers and a meeting of the committee for Polish-Russian cooperation strategy chaired by the ministers with the participation of deputy ministers representing various departments. He reminded that the last meeting of the committee was held in December 2004. “The talks will cover economic related issues, cultural and youth exchange, scientific contacts and environmental protection. They will represent a wide spectrum of future Polish-Russian cooperation taking into account the position Poland gained during 5 years of membership in the EU among its community of nations”, Kremer disclosed.

One of the aims of FM Sikorski’s Moscow talks will be setting the ground for a planned visit of Russian PM Validimir Putin to Poland for the 70th anniversary commemorations of the outbreak of World War Two. The main event is to be held in Gdansk on September 1st.

The Sikorski- Lavrov meeting will take place two days before the scheduled EU summit in Prague, which is to launch the Eastern Partnership project. The aim of this joint Polish and Swedish initiative is to create a framework for closer Union cooperation with six post-Soviet countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine and possibly with Belarus. This has encountered strong Russian opposition, so far.

SS