Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's comment on Russia-EU relations

Submitted on Tue, 08/22/2017 - 10:42

Excerpt from Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks at a joint news conference following talks with Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Affairs Didier Reynders, Brussels, 12 July 2017

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Our relations with the EU have largely been damaged by the position occupied by our European partners on the crisis in Ukraine. We discussed this as well. However, we have always stood for dialogue. At the meeting with President of the European Commission Jean Claude Juncker in St Petersburg a year ago, President Vladimir Putin voiced our ideas on reviewing the status of our relations and normalising them to the benefit of Russia and EU countries. We are ready to discuss these proposals. Incidentally, we noted that at the June 22 meeting of the European Council, Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel spoke out for a structured dialogue with the Russian Federation. This is also exactly what we suggest.

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