MOSCOW, March 27. /TASS/. President Vladimir Putin assessed the results of Russian diplomacy on the European track at a meeting with permanent members of Russia’s Security Council meeting via video link on Friday.
TASS has compiled key statements from the Russian head of state.
Crisis facing Russia-Europe relations
Relations between Russia and Europe are currently "in a state of crisis."
However, Moscow is not to blame for the deterioration of ties: "Relations between Russia and European countries are in crisis, but not because of us," he said.
According to Putin, Russia has never refused to cultivate and restore these ties.
Causes behind crisis
Relations between Russia and European countries are in crisis, but that's not Moscow's doing: "And references to developments in Ukraine are not quite justified here," Putin emphasized.
He blamed the previous US administration and some EU leaders for the crisis facing the relationship between Russia and Europe: "The European crisis itself is the fault of both the previous American administration and a number of leading European countries."
It is the 2014 coup in Ukraine that triggered the tragic events that are still rocking the former Soviet republic, the Russian leader explained: "For it is them who supported the coup in Ukraine which later set off a chain reaction of tragic events that are still taking place on the Ukrainian track.".