EU:Current holder of the EU presidency Finland has issued a stark warning about Russia's lack of commitment to democracy and the rule of law.
Finnish prime minister Matti Vanhanen also sharply criticised Belarus, describing it as a "scar on the face of Europe", in a speech yesterday summing up Finland's six-month presidency of the union.
"We are fully entitled to be concerned at the way things are going in Russia," he told the European Parliament. "We need to see a firmer commitment to democracy, the rule of law and the market economy. We do not want Russia to go in an authoritarian direction."
Finland, which will relinquish the EU presidency in January to Germany, has prioritised Europe's relations with its neighbour Russia since July. But a spate of trade disputes over meat exports, energy investments, and the assassination of two prominent critics of Vladimir Putin - Anna Politkovskaya and Alexander Litvinenko - have dented EU-Russia relations.
"I am not altogether sure that Russia is heading in the right direction," said Mr Vanhanen, who took the unusual step of inviting Mr Putin to attend an EU leaders' summit in Finland in October.
Finland had hoped to open talks on a comprehensive EU-Russia strategic agreement covering everything from human rights to energy during its EU presidency. But these talks were vetoed by Poland, which objected to Moscow's one-year ban on Polish meat exports to Russia.
Mr Vanhanen said there was a danger that if the EU was not united in its dealings with Russia, the fall-back option of bilateral agreements would enable Russia to treat different member states in different ways.
"Some will get good agreements, some will get bad ones and some may get no agreement at all," he added.
Mr Vanhanen made his comments as health commissioner Markos Kyprianou prepared to fly to Russia today to try to avert a Russian ban on all EU meat imports following Bulgaria and Romania's entry to the union in January.
Russia has threatened to ban all EU meat exports, fearing unsafe meat from the new members could enter the food chain.
Russia has offered several EU states, including Ireland, bilateral deals to avoid a ban. But, so far, all EU members have resisted signing any bilateral deal, arguing that a common EU approach is best.
Referring to deliberations on EU enlargement at the EU leaders' summit last week in Brussels, Mr Vanhanen said this was dependent on values, not artificial borders. He also strongly criticised Belarus, a Russian ally in eastern Europe. "On our doorstep we have Belarus, a black hole on the face of European democracy, a scar on the face of Europe, a Europe that should be unblemished," he said.
Last week, the European Parliament awarded its annual human rights prize to the top rival of Belarussian president Alexander Lukashenko.
Alexander Milinkevich won the award at a time when the EU has stepped up moves to isolate Mr Lukashenko and his officials with travel bans, asset freezes and information campaigns targeting ordinary Belarussians.