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Lawmaker names Sweden among states with toughest stance on Russia

According to the chairman of the upper house’s committee for international affairs, bilateral relations have been frozen, and it is up to Sweden to look for ways out of this situation
Konstantin Kosachev, the chairman of Russia's upper house’s committee for international affairs Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS
Konstantin Kosachev, the chairman of Russia's upper house’s committee for international affairs
© Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS

STOCKHOLM, April 21./TASS/. Sweden is among the states whose stance on Russia is the toughest, which stalls normalization of ties between Russia and the European Union, a senior Russian parliamentarian told Tass on Thursday.

Bilateral relations have been practically frozen, and it is up to Sweden itself to look for ways out of this situation, said Konstantin Kosachev, the chairman of the upper house’s committee for international affairs.

"The situation in Russian-Swedish relations clearly differs from an average situation in Russia’s relations with European countries," he said. "Sweden is among the states whose reaction to Russia is most tough and radical," Kosachev said.

"This is the very camel that moves at the slowest speed, thus setting a slow pace of the whole caravan. I mean relations of Russia and the European Union," he said. "This can be only regretted, but the way out of the situation is up to Sweden itself," the parliamentarian added.

Kosachev is in Stockholm for a number of meetings with representatives of the Swedish Foreign Ministry and the parliament.