MOSCOW, September 17. /TASS/. The latest statements by European Parliament members show no signs the situation in relations between Russia and the European Union is degrading fast. The political dialogue between Moscow and Brussels is rather alive than dead, Russia’s permanent representative to the European Union, Vladimir Chizhov, told the Rossiya-24 round-the-clock television news channel in an interview.
"This does not mean that the situation is degrading fast. I can say that the political dialogue between Russia and the European Union at the moment is rather alive than dead. Our contacts are continuing," he stated.
Chizhov stressed that what the chief of the EU’s External Action Service Josep Borrell said in European Parliament debates on Russia was not "unbridled" in contrast to rhetoric by other European legislators. Also, he stressed that the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, did not mention Russia even once in her one-hour long policy speech about the condition of the European Union, which he made at the European Parliament’s session in Strasbourg.
"Working with them is difficult, of course. Many are under the influence of the burden of propagandistic cliches that have massed up over years. Also, there are certain forces that have been trying to add to this propagandistic burden inside the European Union and beyond - and not only across the Atlantic, but beyond the Dnieper. This does not make the conditions of our work easier. It is an extra professional challenge that we have been trying to cope with," Chizhov concluded.