After six months of squabbling about the Kyoto Treaty,the war in Chechnya,human rights,European Union(EU)expansion,and cuts in gas deliveries,relations between the EU and Russia by late March 2004 were showing some indications of serenity.The EU belatedly,grudgingly but politely,congratulated President Vladimir Putin on his re-election,while officials in Brussels said that some 90% of the outstanding issues troubling the extension of the Russia Partnership and Co-operation Agreement(PCA)with the EU had been solved.The PCA extension is needed to accommodate EU enlargement,which,Russia claims,will cost it more than US370mn annually in increased import tariffs.Moscow commentators,for their part,moved the discussion towards exploring future business opportunities within an expanded EU.
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