Brussels, 15/10/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 14 October, Russia's Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that EU-Russia relations “have approached a moment of truth”.
“It's time to take decisions on the future of the development. We must decide if we are strategic partners or if we remain geopolitical adversaries”, he said during a conference of the European businesses association in Moscow. “It's important to clarify the future outlook of our cooperation with the European Union, and Europe's place in the modern world”, he added.
Lavrov stated that the current state of relations between Russia and the EU had an impact on the scope and speed of Russia's collaboration with other countries. He warned that Russia was going to continue working to improve its economic relations with the countries of the East.
Lavrov also spoke about the European sanctions against Russia. “We see the restrictions from the EU as illegal measures that do not defuse the conflict, nor protect human rights in Ukraine”, he said. He believed that his country had retaliated “only after the Western countries had imposed restrictions against the main state-owned banks that finance the economy”. “By blocking access to the means for European loans for Russian financial institutions, the EU has created an advantage for European products. The measures aiming to restrict imports of agricultural products from the EU are not sanctions. It is our right to protect our national economic interests”, he said. “We have been obliged to give an adequate response to the hostile actions of our partners”, he went on.
Lavrov also recalled that on 12 September the EU had agreed “to suspend” its association agreement with Ukraine, “which was the reason why” the former Ukrainian president, Viktor “Yanukovych was overthrown. So why have thousands of lives been lost, tens of thousands of people been wounded, and the south of Ukraine been devastated?” Implementation of the economic part of the agreement has been postponed until 31 December 2015. (CG)