MOSCOW, March 15. /TASS/. The European Union’s attempts to downplay energy cooperation with Russia are irrational, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Tuesday in connection with statements by EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini.
"The linking of the necessity to reinforce EU stability in the energy sphere to the Russian-EU interaction has caused our bewilderment," the ministry said.
"Energy security of energy resource consumer states depends in full on the ability to build partner-like, reliable and stable relations with their suppliers," it said. "Russia is a key supplier of energy carriers to the EU and, in essence, the key guarantor of its energy security."
"The latest irrational attempts by the European Union to downplay, at all cost, energy cooperation with Russia, as well as measures to administratively restrict the share of Russian energy raw materials on the EU market, including by means of various legislative acts and strategies, only testify that the EU, in order to please players beyond the region, is ‘biting the hand that feeds it’, destroying the firmly established Russian-EU ties that have shown themselves to be positive for decades," the ministry said.