Thursday, May 30,2002 12:07 a.m.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, taking a tougher approach than he had in meetings with President Bush and NATO leaders, won a major victory Wednesday as the European Union agreed to recognize Russia as a market economy.
Relations between Russia and its biggest trading partner, however, remained tense with the Kremlin fearing EU expansion into Central Europe could further isolate Kaliningrad, Russia's Baltic enclave, separated from the rest of the country by Lithuania, Latvia and Belarus.