There are reasons to believe that the relations between Russia and the European Union will gradually improve, Vladimir Chizhov, Russia's permanent representative to the European Union said on Monday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd December, 2019) There are reasons to believe that the relations between Russia and the European Union will gradually improve, Vladimir Chizhov, Russia's permanent representative to the European Union said on Monday."I believe that we have reasons to expect a gradual improvement in our relations. We can say that most of new leaders of the European Union that have recently assumed the relevant positions send signals about a window of opportunity, a new beginning. Let's see how it will materialize," Chizhov said during a video link in the Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency.
According to Chizhov, it is impossible to fully restore the previous level of relationship between Russia and the European Union, but neither Brussels nor Moscow need it, as both sides need to build a more pragmatic partnership.
On December 1, a host of new leaders took on top jobs in Brussels. Among them, former Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel replaced Donald Tusk at the helm of the European Council and Ursula von der Leyen, once Germany's defense minister, assumed presidency of the European Commission taking over from Jean-Claude Juncker. Spain's Josep Borell also replaced Italy's Federica Mogherini as High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
In 2014, Russian-EU relations became strained when Brussels imposed sanctions on Moscow over the Ukraine crisis. Europe, in particular, has made sanctions relief conditional on the implementation of the Minsk accords and has since been prolonging the restrictive measures every six months. Moscow has slammed the move, saying that is not party to the Donbas conflict, but a guarantor nation like France and Germany, and retaliated by imposing a food embargo on EU countries.
