VIENNA, June 5. /TASS/. Sanctions are harmful to all and everybody, including Russia, is interested in their cancellation, Russian President Vladimir Putin said after talks with Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen on Tuesday.
"Both those who initiate these actions and those such measures that we call sanctions are aimed against find them harmful. Apparently, everybody, including ourselves, are interested in their cancellation. We are perfectly aware that each individual member country of the European Union finds it rather hard to say so, but all that is happening in this sphere does not impede the development of relations with Austria. And we will use every opportunity to do this further on and to implement the plans I’ve just mentioned," Putin said.
Russia doesn’t suffer from a lack of trust, it remains open for cooperation with other countries, according to Putin.
"We are open, ready for cooperation," Putin said.
According to Putin, a set of mechanisms and instruments for cooperation between Russia and the European Union has been in place until recently. "Now all this has been practically curtailed, and not through our fault. We are not the initiators of scaling down this cooperation," the Russian president stated. "Gradually, bit-by-bit this work is revived, we can see this," Putin added.
"We have consultations and dialogues with representatives from Brussels on a number of trajectories. And in my opinion, they proceed very constructively, though not easily," he added. According to Putin, not only Russia, but also Europe is interested in renewing this work in full format.