Russia-EU strategic partnership to be restored in new form - Russia’s EU envoy

MOSCOW, March 23. /TASS/. A restoration of the strategic partnership between Russia and the European Union is inevitable, but it will be in a completely new form, Russia’s EU envoy Vladimir Chizhov said on Monday. "We experience complicated times," Chizhov said. "Institutional mechanisms of partnership are not working. The EU has stalled them." Nevertheless, Chizhov said, "the political dialogue continues," and "all of its channels are open." The Russian EU envoy said that Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov recently held a meeting with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini and "we are currently in preparations for her visit to Moscow." "In the nearest future, namely in late April there will be consultations at the level of Russian and EU political directors," he said. "We are taking part in negotiations of Iran Six mediators on the Iranian nuclear program settlement and participating in talks on the Middle East settlement." "The strategic partnership between Russia and the EU and its restoration are inevitable but only in a different format," Chizhov said. "The construction, which used to exist, failed to pass the test of the Ukrainian crisis. I believe that we will be paying more attention to the substance [of the partnership] instead of catchy slogans." Relations between Russia and the West have been strained by developments in Ukraine as the United States accused Russia of direct involvement in armed conflict in the neighboring state and imposed sanctions on Moscow. The European Union joined Washington’s policy towards Russia and imposed its own sanctions. The West started imposing sanctions on Russia from March 2014 in the wake of dramatic events evolving in Ukraine at that time. First, an extraordinary EU summit stalled talks on a visa-free regime and a new base agreement on Russia-EU cooperation. Further on, sanctions were grouped into three categories - personal, corporate and sectoral. Sectoral sanctions imposed for a term of one year include an embargo on the supply of arms to Russia and the importation of Russian weapons and related materials, a ban on the delivery of dual-purpose products and technologies to Russia as well as innovative technologies for Russia’s oil extracting industry. Russia in response fully banned from August 2014 imports of meat, fish, cheese, milk, vegetables and fruits from western countries that had imposed economic sanctions against Russian citizens and companies. Sanctions against Russia have been imposed by European Union member states, Norway, the United States, Canada, Australia and Japan. Read more