Moscow-Sana
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held the European Union responsible for severing and deteriorating relations with his country.
Lavrov described in a press conference with his Finnish counterpart Becca Haavisto in the Russian city of Saint Petersburg today, Russia’s relations with the European Union as “undergoing a serious crisis and nothing was left of it,” pointing at the same time to the use of Russian officials to negotiate with their European counterparts on international issues such as the crisis in Syria and the Iranian nuclear agreement ”.
Lavrov said, "The European Union has consistently destroyed all mechanisms without exception that were based on the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, including the summits that were held twice a year and the annual meetings of the Russian government with European commissioners," stressing that Russia was not the one who destroyed all this.
Lavrov considered that contacts between Russia and the European Union are "now intermittent" and have been reduced either to discuss energy supplies or to foreign policy issues about the situation in Syria, the Iranian nuclear program and some other international situations, noting that Russia does not impose itself on others but is ready to consider any issues. It may constitute a common interest.
Lavrov denounced the European Union’s position on Russia regarding what happened in Ukraine in 2014 and blamed Moscow for everything that happens there, pointing out that the European Union, when a coup occurred in Ukraine, showed its inability to a large extent regarding the agreement reached on the eve of the coup between the government and the opposition. Which was signed by Germany, France and Poland as guarantor countries, criticizing the European Union’s indifference to the attacks on the people of Crimea and eastern Ukraine by "extremists and neo-Nazis who came to power in Ukraine."
Lavrov confirmed, after his talks with Josep Borrell, Commissioner for Foreign Policy in the European Union in Moscow on the 5th of this month that the absence of normal relations between Russia and the European Union is unhealthy and will not benefit anyone and that further deterioration of relations between the two sides threatens unpredictable consequences.
In turn, Haavisto supported Lavrov's statement in this regard about the importance of strengthening relations between Brussels and Moscow, considering that establishing good relations between the European Union and Russia is in the interest of all fields, including the economy and business.
