The talks on a Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) to replace the current one, which expires in late 2007, were set to begin at the Russia-EU summit in Helsinki in November, but Poland vetoed the talks over Moscow's ban on meat imports from the EU newcomer.
"We support starting the Russia-EU talks and granting the mandate [to the European Commission, the executive body]," Atis Lots said.
Russia imposed an embargo on Polish meat in November 2005 claiming that meat from third countries was imported under the cover of Polish produce.
"We understand our Polish colleagues' concerns. Any country has the right to use all instruments to resolve their problems, but on the other hand, hampering the whole interaction process over one single instance would hardly be fair," the Latvian diplomat said.
Poland sees Russian sanctions as retaliation for Warsaw's backing of the 2004 "orange revolution" in Ukraine, which brought pro-Western forces to power in the country.
Relations between Russia and Poland, a former Communist Bloc country that joined the EU in May 2004, have deteriorated dramatically in the past few years. A string of recent diplomatic spats has increased mutual distrust between the two neighbors, prompting many politicians in Warsaw to conclude that the Kremlin is using the embargo on Polish imports as a political weapon.
