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| Putin Edges Farther Away From Syrian Leader | Putin Edges Farther Away From Syrian Leader |
| (34 minutes later) | |
| BRUSSELS — President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Friday added to recent signals that Moscow is slowly distancing itself from the regime of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, its longstanding but now severely weakened ally. | BRUSSELS — President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Friday added to recent signals that Moscow is slowly distancing itself from the regime of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, its longstanding but now severely weakened ally. |
| Warning of chaos, Mr. Putin, who was in Brussels for a European Union-Russia summit meeting, restated his country’s position that Syria’s civil war could be resolved only through talks between the parties involved. But he also insisted that “we aren’t a defender of the current Syrian leadership” and said that Moscow wants “a democratic regime in Syria based on the expression of the people’s will.” | Warning of chaos, Mr. Putin, who was in Brussels for a European Union-Russia summit meeting, restated his country’s position that Syria’s civil war could be resolved only through talks between the parties involved. But he also insisted that “we aren’t a defender of the current Syrian leadership” and said that Moscow wants “a democratic regime in Syria based on the expression of the people’s will.” |
| European nations are themselves divided over what to do but have increasingly tilted toward providing at least diplomatic support for the opponents of Mr. Assad. | European nations are themselves divided over what to do but have increasingly tilted toward providing at least diplomatic support for the opponents of Mr. Assad. |
| Russia has been the Syrian government’s main backer since an uprising against President Assad began in early 2011 and, along with China, has used its veto in the United Nations Security Council to block resolutions that would have imposed penalties on Syria. | Russia has been the Syrian government’s main backer since an uprising against President Assad began in early 2011 and, along with China, has used its veto in the United Nations Security Council to block resolutions that would have imposed penalties on Syria. |
| But a senior Russian foreign ministry said recently that Mr. Assad’s regime could lose its struggle for survival and that Moscow is making contingency plans to evacuate citizens from the country. | |
| At the same time, Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said in an interview with Russia Today, a government news organization, that Moscow was still rejecting appeals from other countries to help persuade the Syrian leader to flee. “We are not in the business of regime change,” Mr. Lavrov said in the interview, which was broadcast on Friday. | |
| Mr. Putin described Russia’s policy, which has put it at odds with Washington and also Arab countries that support Mr. Assad’s opponents, as intended only to avoid mayhem. “We will do what we can so that there will be order in Syria,” he said, “Whatever changes are occurring in Syria, we would not like to see the same chaos there which we are seeing in other countries in the region.” | |
| Mr. Putin’s talks in Brussels focused mainly on energy, an issue of far more immediate importance to his own hold on power in Russia, where earnings from natural gas exports to Europe are a key pillar of an economic and political system built around state control of natural resources. | |
| The Russian president pressedEuropean Union to exempt the natural gas behemoth Gazprom from rules aimed at promoting greater competition in the energy market. But he won no favors for the company, Russia’s biggest. | |
| Russia is Europe’s main external energy supplier, and disputes over natural gas have dominated discussions between Moscow and the 27-nation bloc for years. Friday’s talks yielded no significant progress, said a European Union official briefed on them. | Russia is Europe’s main external energy supplier, and disputes over natural gas have dominated discussions between Moscow and the 27-nation bloc for years. Friday’s talks yielded no significant progress, said a European Union official briefed on them. |
| While Mr. Putin’s visit to Brussels produced no breakthroughs, it did avoid the angry polemics of some previous meetings. | |
| “We’ve had worse summits,” the official said. | “We’ve had worse summits,” the official said. |
| Mr. Putin, who started his third term as president in May after taking a four-year break to serve as prime minister, dropped the combative language that has characterized previous appearances in Brussels. At the end of a joint news conference, he threw his arm over the shoulder of the European Commission president, José Manuel Barroso. | Mr. Putin, who started his third term as president in May after taking a four-year break to serve as prime minister, dropped the combative language that has characterized previous appearances in Brussels. At the end of a joint news conference, he threw his arm over the shoulder of the European Commission president, José Manuel Barroso. |
| The two men had earlier sparred over European Union energy regulations that Mr. Putin described as “discriminatory” but which Mr. Barroso defended as applying to all countries, not just Russia. | The two men had earlier sparred over European Union energy regulations that Mr. Putin described as “discriminatory” but which Mr. Barroso defended as applying to all countries, not just Russia. |
| The European Union has demanded that Gazprom open its export pipelines that run through member countries to other gas producers. This would include a new pipeline known as South Stream that Russia plans to build, though many doubt that Gazprom has sufficient money to finance the expensive project. | The European Union has demanded that Gazprom open its export pipelines that run through member countries to other gas producers. This would include a new pipeline known as South Stream that Russia plans to build, though many doubt that Gazprom has sufficient money to finance the expensive project. |
| Mr. Putin complained that European energy regulation violated an earlier framework agreement on Russia-European Union economic relations, a claim rejected by the Europeans. “It creates confusion and undermines confidence in our mutual work,” he said ahead of talks with Mr. Barroso and Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, which represents the governments of the member states. | |
| The two sides also discussed, without making any progress, more recent quarrels over Russian restrictions on the import of cars and live animals from Europe. The European Union believes that these violate the rules of the World Trade Organization, which Russia, after 18 years of negotiation, finally joined in August. | The two sides also discussed, without making any progress, more recent quarrels over Russian restrictions on the import of cars and live animals from Europe. The European Union believes that these violate the rules of the World Trade Organization, which Russia, after 18 years of negotiation, finally joined in August. |
| “Just a few months after joining the W.T.O.,” the European Union official said, “they want to throw the rules out of the window.” | “Just a few months after joining the W.T.O.,” the European Union official said, “they want to throw the rules out of the window.” |