(Recasts with political context, details) By Darren Ennis and Aleksandras Budrys BRUSSELS/MOSCOW, March 29 (Reuters) - Russia withdrew a threat to ban meat imports from the European Union from April 1 on Thursday and said it wants a compromise with Brussels on food safety in a potential breakthrough after months of tension. The European Commission responded by announcing its health chief will meet his Russian counterpart next month to try to resolve rows over meat imports that have stymied moves to boost ties between the 27-nation bloc and its biggest energy supplier. Lifting a 16-month-old Russian ban on Polish meat imports will be the focus of talks between EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou and Russian Agriculture Minister Alexei Gordeyev in mid-April, a European Commission official said. An end to that ban could clear the way for negotiations to start on a new strategic partnership agreement covering energy, economic cooperation and human rights, which Warsaw vetoed last November in protest at the Russian boycott. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has given high priority to relations with Moscow under Berlin's six-month EU presidency, will attend an EU-Russia summit with President Vladimir Putin and top EU officials in Samara, Russia, on May 18. The reciprocal moves follow a visit by EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson to Moscow this week to discuss removing remaining obstacles to Russia's accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), which included the meat dispute. COMPROMISE Asked whether Russia would carry out its threat to ban meat imports from momre EU countries as of April 1, a spokesman for the Russian food safety watchdog said: "Definitely not. We hope to find a compromise with the EU on these issues. "But we have to be convinced of the safety of the food we import and the efficiency of the EU food safety guarantees," Rosselkhoznadzor spokesman Alexei Alexeyenko said. The agency has asked Brussels to present by March 31 plans from all EU members to monitor dangerous and banned substances in animal products. It also requested data from last year. In Brussels, EU health and food safety spokesman Philip Tod said: "A meeting has been agreed for mid-April. It will discuss both the general EU-wide concerns that the Russians have, but also with a view to lifting the year-long ban by Russia on Polish meat." Rosselkhoznadzor's head, Sergei Dankvert, had told Reuters earlier this month his agency would be forced to suspend shipments of animal products from those countries that did not supply data. Alexeyenko did not rule out the possibility of a ban being introduced at a later date should EU countries fail to comply. Russia recently recalled animal health inspectors from 12 EU countries after the bloc guaranteed the safety of food exports. Dankvert has said that Moscow intends to toughen controls over imported food at its own borders and could impose wider bans on countries with outbreaks of animal diseases. Some EU governments, led vociferously by Poland, regard the measures as politically motivated by Russia to punish former satellite countries in central Europe that have joined the EU. However, Rosselkhoznadzor also banned imports of pork and chicken meat from some German factories and turkey mince from some French factories this month after finding salmonella bacteria in some shipments. It has also banned imports of poultry meat from two U.S. factories and beef from a refrigerating plant in Uruguay and a firm in Brazil.
