During a joint press conference in Moscow on Monday 24 April, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced that they wanted an improvement in relations between the EU and Russia.
Saying that in the past Brussels and Moscow had worked on a strategic partnership, Mogherini stated that she would like to return to this type of situation. "We are ready to explore all the possible areas of cooperation on the basis of a pragmatic assessment of our respective interests and on the many issues where these respective interests coincide bilaterally, regionally and globally", Mogherini said on this her first visit to Moscow since taking up office. "There are areas of cooperation and we are determined to increase the level of coordination and cooperation by exploring how Russia and the EU can be useful for resolving certain crises confronting us in the world today", she said. "Not a single opportunity for cooperation can be wasted or under-estimated. So we have the responsibility to do our utmost to find grounds for understanding and common solutions", she said.
Meanwhile, Lavrov said, in Russian, that he was sure "the development of the links [between Russia and the EU] on the bases of equality and mutual respect responded to the long term interests of the people" and that this would contribute to "the consolidation of global and regional security and stability". In Lavrov's view, the political dialogue should be stepped up and should take place on a regular basis.
However, the EU and Russia also have totally different viewpoints on several issues, especially Ukraine. "Of course, we have a different assessment of the conflict in Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea", Mogherini said, adding that she had talked to Lavrov about "how we can move forward on the roadmap agreed, which is the full implementation of the Minsk Agreement in all its aspects, both security and political aspects" by all parties. In Lavrov's view, Ukraine refuses to implement these agreements and is trying to amend them. "I expect our EU counterparts to try and ensure that the Ukrainian authorities apply the Minsk agreements strictly", he said. "If this is done, we will be ready to play our part as guarantors of the agreements so as to influence Donetsk and Luhansk for them too to take measures in this direction, once Kiev has begun to fulfil its obligations", he warned. Mogherini also said that the EU did not recognise the annexation of Crimea.
Mogherini added that she had talked to Lavrov about the situation in Syria, Libya, the Middle East peace process, and the agreement with Iran on its nuclear programme. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)