MOSCOW, September 27. /TASS/. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told the European Union’s new Ambassador to Russia Roland Galharague that military-technical assistance to Kiev, including supplies of lethal weapons, is inadmissible, the Russian foreign ministry said on Tuesday.
"It was pointed to the inadmissibility of EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell’s and other EU top officials’ recent confrontational statements in respect of our country and the ongoing EU supplies of military-technical assistance to Kiev, including lethal weapons," it said after their meeting, when the new EU ambassador handed over copies of his credentials.
According to the ministry, the diplomats discussed problematic issues if relations between Russia and the European Union. "The Russian side gave principled assessments of the crisis state of the Russia-EU relations, which have been driven to a dead end by Brussels," it said. "Special attention was focused on the inadmissibility of manifestations of Russophobia and aggressiveness against Russian citizens and Russian-speakers in the EU member countries."
The Russian senior diplomat drew the ambassador’s attention to the "discriminatory nature" of the EU’s decision on the complete suspension of the agreement on simplified visa issuance procedures and the actions of some countries, which deny entry visas to certain categories of Russian citizens, which "borders on interference into Russia’s domestic affairs."
"It was stressed that the European Union must implement its liabilities to ensure unimpeded transit between mainland Russia and the Kaliningrad region. Special focus was made on the negative consequences of the EU’s anti-Russian sanctions for the global food security. It was noted that all EU member nations must obey the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations," it said.
The sides agreed to maintain diplomatic contacts "on issues of mutual interest."
Markus Ederer of Germany vacated the post of EU’s ambassador to Russia in early September. On September 15, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the EU’s new envoy, Roland Galharague, had arrived in Russia.