Upcoming EU Summit To Provide Opportunity For Talks On Moscow-Brussels Relations - Conte

Fakhir Rizvi Published October 16, 2018 | 03:31 PM

The European Council summit, which will start on Wednesday, will provide EU leaders with an opportunity to discuss Moscow-Brussels relations and means to maintain the dual-track approach toward Russia, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Tuesday

ROME (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th October, 2018) The European Council summit, which will start on Wednesday, will provide EU leaders with an opportunity to discuss Moscow-Brussels relations and means to maintain the dual-track approach toward Russia, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Tuesday.

"The meeting of the EU leaders will provide a window for a discussion on the Russian-EU relations. It will become a new opportunity for deeper talks on how to pursue the dual-track approach firmness and dialogue in relations with Moscow, which remains an indispensable player in settling urgent international crises," Conte told the Italian parliament.

The prime minister added that during his visit to Moscow on October 24, he would discuss international agenda and Western sanctions, which harm both the European companies and the Russian civil society, with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"In this connection, I will tell my European colleagues that it is important to maintain dialogue, while preserving a common European approach to relations with Russia," Conte said.

Relations between Moscow and the European Union deteriorated in 2014 after Crimea's reunification with Russia and amid the crisis in eastern Ukraine. Brussels imposed restrictive measures against Russian individuals, companies and economic sectors. Moscow has responded by imposing restrictions on food imports from the countries that supported the sanctions.

Conte said in June that Italy would promote the revision of anti-Russia sanctions, saying that Moscow had played a major role in resolving geopolitical crises in recent years. The new Italian government, which was formed in late May by a coalition comprising the anti-establishment Five Star Movement and the Eurosceptic Lega party, stated the need to lift the EU sanctions imposed on Russia in their government coalition agreement.