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European Commission to restart bilateral trade talks with Russia on June 2-4

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on May 20 that EU was gradually realizing that in relations with Russia it was necessary to hold negotiations on trade issues

© EPA/JULIEN WARNAND

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Russia FM says EU is realizing need to restore marred trade ties with Russia

BRUSSELS, May 29. /TASS/. European Commission officials will hold talks in Moscow on June 2-4 on bilateral trade relations, the EC said on Friday.

"Representatives of the European Commission will set out for Moscow on June 2-4 for technical negotiations on bilateral trade issues," the EC said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on May 20 in the Federation Council, the upper house of Russia’s parliament, that EU was gradually realizing that in relations with Russia it was necessary to return to the situation that had existed before the Ukraine crisis and hold negotiations on trade issues.

"This awareness is gradually coming to our partners in Brussels who initially responded with unilateral sanctions and threatening statements to our refusal to support the coup d’йtat in Kiev and our support for Crimean residents," Lavrov said.

"They are growing aware that all this should be left behind and it is necessary to come back to the point, from which we tried to start, i.e. the negotiations, including in the Russia-Ukraine-European Union trilateral format and, in the broader context, the EU-EAEU [Eurasian Economic Union] format," the Russian foreign minister said.

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