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Moscow ready to resume cooperation with Europe — Lavrov

The top diplomat says Moscow is ready to resume cooperation with the European countries via all channels without any preconditions
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Vyacheslav Prokofyev/TASS
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
© Vyacheslav Prokofyev/TASS

MOSCOW, February 26. /TASS/. Russia will be prepared to resume cooperation with the European countries via all channels without any preconditions, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after talks with his Portuguese counterpart Augusto Santos Silva on Monday.

"I believe that we demonstrate enough good will as far as our readiness is concerned to reopen without any preconditions all channels of dialogue, cooperation and mutually beneficial projects that were frozen after the spring of 2014 (the introduction of sanctions over the Ukrainian crisis)," Lavrov said.

He added that Moscow appreciated that many in the European Union were aware of how harmful the current state of affairs in relations with Russia was and pressed for putting an end to this state of affairs. "We are prepared for that," Lavrov concluded.

 Moscow won’t hold talks on the terms of lifting anti-Russian sanctions, he went on. 

"We never ask the European Union or other countries, which joined sanctions, to lift these sanctions, and we won’t hold any talks on the conditions of lifting the sanctions," Lavrov stressed.

Russia’s top diplomat noted that the business circles in European countries have been showing interest in overcoming this unhealthy situation in relations with Russia.

"This was during the meeting of German businesses with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and then our president also met with representatives of the French businesses. Not that long ago I also had a meeting with members of the Association of European Businesses in Russia (AEB). All of them have the same position," Lavrov noted.

"We are ready to cooperate with our European partners and governments so that this objective interest of our business circles is taken into account," Lavrov said.