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Time, effort needed to resolve crisis in Russia-EU relations — Russia's ambassador to EU

Vladimir chizhov says restrictive measures imposed by the EU did not help promote bilateral strategic partnership
Russia's Ambassador to the EU Vladimir Chizhov  ITAR-TASS/Grigory Sysoyev
Russia's Ambassador to the EU Vladimir Chizhov
© ITAR-TASS/Grigory Sysoyev

MOSCOW, May 27. /ITAR-TASS/. Time and more effort will be needed to overcome the current crisis in relations between Russia and the European Union over developments in Ukraine, Russia's Ambassador to the EU Vladimir Chizhov told a Moscow-Brussels video bridge on Tuesday.

Restrictive measures imposed by the bloc did not help promote bilateral strategic partnership, the diplomat said, “but it was not Russia that suffered, but our cooperation.”

Those areas restricted by the European Union had also been stalling before, he said. This referred both to discussions on introducing a visa-free regime and cooperation within the World Trade Organization (WTO).

“This does not mean that the EU has stopped being our strategic partner,” Chizhov said. “The European Union remains our key trade and economic partner.”

The diplomat said he doubted that Europe, which had just recovered from an economic crisis, would decide to introduce additional sanctions against Russia.

Russia is the third most significant trade partner for Europe after China and the United States, he said. “European business understands it quite well," Chizhov added.