SIRIUS /federal territory/, November 15. /TASS/. Russia remains open for interaction with European countries, despite the freezing of most official mechanisms of dialogue, Federation Council First Deputy Chairman, Secretary of the General Council of the ruling United Russia party Vladimir Yakushev said at the BRICS-Europe symposium in Sirius.
"Russia still sees large mutually beneficial potential in European countries," the senior senator said, addressing foreign participants in the forum.
Direct inter-party and inter-parliamentary communication plays an important role even in the conditions of tension, he stressed.
‘Today official channels of dialogue between Russia and most European states have been actually frozen. This makes even more significant the relevance of alternative formats of inter-parliamentary and inter-party communication," Yakushev said.
Russia respects rich heritage of cooperation with European states and favors preserving humanitarian, cultural and expert contacts, he said.