MOSCOW, July 15. /TASS/. The situation in Ukraine and the Iranian nuclear deal, as well as prospects for the development of relations between Moscow and Brussels, were in focus of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s meeting with EU ambassadors and the chief of the European Union’s mission to Russia, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Monday.
"The sides discussed in detail the current situation and prospects for further development of the Russian-EU relations," the foreign ministry said. "Lavrov stressed that the Russian side wants to resume comprehensive dialogue and cooperation with the European Union on an equal and mutually beneficial basis. In this context, it was stressed that unilateral restrictions that restrain the development of trade and economic ties between the countries, and other steps fraught with the erosion of the system of international law and the emergence of new division lines in Europe, are counterproductive."
The sides also discussed pressing international problems "with a focus on the possibilities for the normalization of the situation around the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict," the foreign ministry noted. "Lavrov called on the European Union to make efforts to encourage Kiev to implement its commitments under the Minsk Agreements and in the sohere of obsering the rights of national minorities fully and unconditionally."
Apart from that, the Russian top diplomat "shared his views on the situation in North Africa, around Libya," the ministry added.