EU Lawmaker Urges Europe To Lift Anti-Russia Sanctions, Cooperate With Moscow

YALTA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd July, 2020) Thierry Mariani, a European Parliament lawmaker from France, on Thursday called on the European Union to lift the sanctions on Russia and begin working together with Moscow.

Mariani is leading a delegation of European politicians and experts that is currently in Crimea with a working visit.

"If Europe wants to exist in the 21st century, it will have to realize that it has to withdraw the sanctions and needs to cooperate with Russia," the lawmaker said.

The relations between Moscow and EU countries have been strained due to the Ukrainian crisis and the reunification of Crimea with Russia in 2014. The EU, together with the United States, introduced sanctions against Russia, to which the Russian authorities responded with its counter-sanctions. Some EU countries have recently begun questioning the effectiveness of sanctions and started looking for different solutions to problems between Moscow and Europe.