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Chechnya, ME on top agenda

EU, Russia, US begin ground-breaking talks

LISBON: Top policy-makers from the European Union, Russia and the United States began ground-breaking talks on Friday which will range from Chechnya to strategic arms to the Middle East.

Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov was expected to come under renewed pressure from his Portuguese and French counterparts and U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to grant international organisations more access to Chechnya.

Reports of widespread human rights violations during a five-month military campaign to crush Chechen separatist fighters have unleashed a torrent of criticism in Western capitals. Russia denies the reports.

The EU team, made up of Portuguese Foreign Minister Jaime Gama, France's Hubert Vedrine, EU security chief Javier Solana and external relations commissioner Chris Patten, made little progress in a first round of talks on Thursday in persuading Ivanov to accept a formal international presence in the embattled Caucasus region.

Albright joins the group on Friday for what will be the first trilateral meeting between the three.

Although the Russians have agreed to allow members of the Council of Europe to join Moscow's own human rights mission in the northern Caucasus, the EU is urging that the Organisation for Cooperation and Security in Europe (OSCE) -- to which Russia belongs -- be allowed to establish a delegation there.

Despite the tensions over Chechnya, both sides are anxious that their disagreements do not block progress in other areas.

Russia's RIA news agency quoted Ivanov as saying in Lisbon that discussions on international arms treaties would be a key topic.

"Now it is important to look at how we move ahead and to compare our positions," RIA quoted him as saying.

He said other questions, such as the Middle East peace process, would also be discussed. As co-sponsors of the peace process, he said Russia and the United States could give a "unified dynamic" to the peace process.-Reuters