Russia Invites EU To Completely Revise Bilateral Relations - Deputy Foreign Minister

Moscow invites the European Union to carry out a comprehensive revision of their bilateral relations and revive depoliticized methods of cooperation, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said Thursday, addressing a conference devoted to the Russia-EU relationship.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th November, 2018) Moscow invites the European Union to carry out a comprehensive revision of their bilateral relations and revive depoliticized methods of cooperation, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said Thursday, addressing a conference devoted to the Russia-EU relationship.

"The sensible voices calling for the normalization of relations with our country based on equality and reciprocity of mutual interests are strengthening in the European Union ... We have invited the European Union to carry out a complex assessment of our relations, to decide together what in the multilayer structure of our cooperation that existed before the Ukrainian crisis should be preserved and what should be left behind," Grushko said.

According to the deputy minister, Moscow believes that the two parties should proceed by unfreezing the formats of cooperation that were initially developed to be depoliticized with the aim of resolving issues that fall within the interests of both Russia and the European Union.

"This, first of all, relates to sectoral dialogues and meetings between the Russian government and the European Commission, which were extremely important in terms of the approximating standards, solving concrete problems that challenge our economies, businesses and citizens in various fields," Grusko stated.

He stressed that the longer the tensions in bilateral relations remained, the more difficult it would be to return to the cooperation track.

"In order to move forward rather than to roll backward Russia and the European Union need a viable cooperation strategy that will take into account [Russia's] responsibility for the future of our common European home," Grushko stressed.

The relations between Moscow and Western states deteriorated over situation in Ukraine and Crimea's reunification with Russia. The West imposed sanctions against Russia over its alleged interference in the Ukrainian conflict. In turn, Moscow responded by imposing a trade embargo against the EU countries. Since then, the Russian authorities have repeatedly stated that the use of sanctions against the country is counterproductive and called for the normalization of relations.