Brussels, 24/02/2011 (Agence Europe) - The EU and Russia support the aspirations of the citizens of the Arab world “to a fairer and more prosperous life” and are prepared to provide these countries with economic - and other - assistance if they ask for it, state Catherine Ashton and the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, in a joint declaration adopted on the sidelines of the meeting between the European Commission and the Russian government in Brussels on Wednesday 24 February (see related articles). One interesting point is that the declaration makes no reference to the democratic aspirations of the people of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, etc, even though these “legitimate aspirations” have always been a central part of the recent stances of the EU. This declaration talks instead of “a range of problems that have accumulated within societies” in these countries and which “should be addressed by peoples of relevant countries through national dialogue involving all political forces and society strata aimed at reaching public consensus regarding the ways out of the crisis and conducting the much-needed transformations”. Democracy is, however, mentioned once in the declaration, to point out that “democratisation processes should evolve in peaceful forms and within a legal framework”. Both sides condemn the “unacceptable” use of military force to repress the demonstrations - notably in Libya - and call for an immediate end to all such action. The EU and Russia - both of which are members of the Quartet on the Middle East - also take the view that the uprisings in the region should not be used as an excuse not to make all possible efforts to break the current deadlock on Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. At a joint press conference with José Manuel Barroso, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin stressed the importance of not “interfering” in the political processes of the Arab countries and of not trying to impose “our models”. He went on to voice concern that the current unrest in the Arab world could impact upon the Northern Caucasus and even on Europe. (H.B./transl.fl)