ROME, July 4. /TASS/. Russia hopes that Italy will take efforts to help resume normal relations between Russia and The European Union, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday after talks with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.
"We hope that Italy will speak out this positions consistently and clearly and will take effort to realize what has been repeatedly said publicly, i.e. to resume full-format normal relations between Russia and Europe in general," he said.
The Russian President also expressed hope that European Commission’s new leadership will finally see the harm of the anti-Russian sanctions and will try to build good relations with Russia.
"European nations missed the chance to sell billions worth of goods on the Russian market. It means that no new jobs were created or former jobs were lost, people were paid no salaries and paid no money to all the levels of the budgetary system. It means losses for all of us," Putin said at a news conference after talks with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.
"That is why I hope that Europe’s new leadership will bear it in mind and will build relations with Russia correspondingly," he stressed.