OTTAWA, November 7. /TASS/. The European Union will go ahead with its policy of sanctions, but will continue its dialogue with Moscow, the union’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini has said.
During the meeting with students in Montreal, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini was asked about the anti-Russian sanctions, imposed on Russia over the domestic conflict in Ukraine and Crimea’s reunification with Russia in 2014.
"I think, that [the sanctions] will continue, because in Europe we have a strong and clear understanding of the fact that changing borders by force is a taboo and has to remain a taboo, otherwise we will go back a couple of centuries and nobody wants to go back there," she said.
"But relations between the European Union and Russia are not limited to this," the European diplomat continued. "We have fields - especially in foreign and security policy - [where] we cooperate with Russia. I mentioned the Iran nuclear deal, our policy on the Middle East peace process, on the Arctic… And then, there are some fields where we do not agree, but we still talk - like Syria."
She added that the European Union would continue its support for Ukraine.
When asked about Russian-EU relations in the energy sector, the European diplomat described those ties as "complicated."
"It is true that the energy dependence of Europeans on the Russian gas is high, but we are looking for ways in which we can increase our energy diversification," she said.