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EU continues dialogue with Moscow on migration issues - Russia’s envoy

"As for migration, we continue an informal dialogue, and both sides recognize the objective demand in this," Russia’s envoy to the EU Vladimir Chizhov told the Rossiya-24 TV

MOSCOW, September 4. /TASS/. The European Union acknowledges the need to hold a dialogue with Russia on migration issues, Russia’s envoy to the EU Vladimir Chizhov has said.

 "As for migration, we continue an informal dialogue, and both sides recognize the objective demand in this," Chizhov told the Rossiya-24 TV channel in an interview.

The diplomat said Russia has rich experience in this issue and is also ready to consult other countries. He reminded that after the collapse of the Soviet Union many former fellow countrymen came to Russia.

However, the EU has frozen all the official contacts on a broad range of issues with Russia amid the events in Ukraine, Chizhov said.

On Thursday, Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Europe could learn from Russia how to deal with the refugees. She reminded that Russia has accommodated hundreds of thousands of refugees from Ukraine.

"These people were provided with shelter, food and benefits," she said.

The diplomat also expressed concerns about the EU’s "helplessness" over the influx of refugees from the Middle East and North Africa.

Experts believe the expanding flow of illegal migrants into the EU countries is a consequence of US and NATO bombardments of Iraq and Libya and the West-engineered civil war in Syria.