On Tuesday 5 June, Russia's ambassador to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, said he would like the EU and Russia to cooperate in the responses to be given to the USA's imposition of tariffs on steel and aluminium.
"We should coordinate our position. We are still waiting for the EU to formalise its declarations", he said at a press conference in Brussels. "We will be ready and willing to unite our efforts to work on measures aiming to protect EU and Russian companies, given this hostile US policy. That is our offer and we hope it will be received positively", he added. While the EU has been subject to the US taxes since 1 June, Russia has been subject to them since March.
Although relations between the EU and Russia have been difficult since Russia's annexation of Crimea and the conflict in eastern Ukraine, Chizhov said: "Russia has not closed off any communication channel with the EU". "The channels are open and working. We continue our political dialogue", he added, saying that just this week there had been three political consultations on the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the Western Balkans and Arctic-linked issues. Chizhov stated that the EU and Russia are working together on maintaining the Iran nuclear deal and on the Middle East.
He also quoted the words of Russia's President Vladimir Putin the previous day in an interview with Austrian broadcasting corporation ORF: "It is not our goal to divide anyone in Europe. On the contrary, we want a united and prosperous European Union, because the EU is our biggest trading and economic partner. The more problems there are in the EU, the bigger the risks and uncertainties for us", Putin said.
Chizhov stated it was important not to let politics interfere with sport, at a time when the European leaders have announced they could boycott the 2018 World Cup in Russia, in retaliation for the poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter in the UK. Chizhov said that if the former spy and his daughter had really been contaminated by Novichok, they would not have survived. "Russia has asked the British authorities to share the evidence in the investigation and to cooperate, and we continue to ask for these perfectly legitimate things", he said. In his view, many countries, including the member states of the EU and NATO, have produced this nerve agent.
Chizhov also spoke about the conflict with Ukraine. He said Russia was working with the other members of the Normandy format (France, Germany and Ukraine) on a ministerial meeting "this month". "There is no particular date already set but we are working on it", he said. Similarly, Chizhov said a meeting between the Commission, Russia and Ukraine could soon take place on gas issues. The European commissioner for energy "(Maros) Sefcovic sent a letter to the Russian ministry for energy at the end of May. I believe such a meeting could take place, on an agreed date, in the near future", he said.
Elsewhere, although an interim investigation into flight MH17 has clearly pointed the finger of responsibility for the crash at Russia, Chizhov said that Ukraine had not closed its air space above a conflict zone. "All the proof provided by Russia since 2014 has been totally ignored by the joint investigation team", he stated, quick to add that Ukraine was part of the investigation team, unlike Russia. He said that in eastern Ukraine, all the parties, including the Ukrainian army, were using weapons from Russia or the USSR. Chizhov said the type of missile that brought flight MH17 down was withdrawn in 2011. "I'm not accusing anyone, but I'm interested, like everyone, to see an appropriate independent investigation. We owe it to the victims and their families", he added. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant and Carmen García)