MOSCOW, October 13. /TASS/. Escalation of anti-Russian sentiments in the EU does not facilitate normalization in Europe; the EU countries should abolish attempts to conduct business with Russia from a position of supremacy, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in its statement in the wake of Russian top diplomat Sergey Lavrov’s phone call with his EU counterpart Josep Borrel.

"The Russian side underscored that escalation of anti-Russian sentiments in the EU, creation of new irritants under contrived pretexts do not facilitate normalization in Europe. Russian-EU relations could be based exclusively on equity and mutual respect of interests; to that extent, some countries, who set up the mood in the EU, should abolish attempts to conduct business from a position of supremacy and acknowledge the absence of alternatives to a fair, factual dialogue," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in its statement published Tuesday.

The sides discussed a number of pressing international issues, including implementation of the Minsk agreements on Ukraine settlement, settlement in Nagorno-Karabakh in compliance with the joint statement of foreign ninisters of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia, as well as the situation in Belarus.

Besides, Borrel disclosed the outcome of the October 12 meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council. The phone call took place on the EU’s initiative.