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Lavrov voices hope for restoration of Russia-Sweden relations

Sweden’s ties with Russia were frozen in 2014 by the previous center-right government
Swedish and Russian foreign ministers, Margot Wallstrom and Sergey Lavrov  Mikhail Japaridze/TASS
Swedish and Russian foreign ministers, Margot Wallstrom and Sergey Lavrov
© Mikhail Japaridze/TASS

MOSCOW, February 21. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov expressed hope at the bilateral meeting with his Swedish counterpart Margot Wallstrom on Tuesday that Russia and Sweden will be able to restore mutually beneficial relations.

"I hope that your visit today will help overcome not the best period in the relations of Russia and Sweden and will outline further steps for restoring rather promising and mutually beneficial relations that meet interests of our countries," Lavrov said.

Ahead of her trip to Moscow, Wallstrom said in an interview with Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter that Sweden does not consider Russia as a threat to its security. "We should judge by actions (of the Russian side)," she said. "We speak about a ‘broad approach’ when we act together with the EU where sanctions are one of the tools. But we also work, for example, in the Arctic, which was and will be a region of low tensions. I will ask how Russia views the issue of nuclear weapons in this region," she said.

Sweden’s ties with Russia were frozen in 2014 by the previous center-right government. Along with Poland and the Baltic countries, Sweden has been a consistent supporter of the EU’s anti-Russian sanctions policy. Sweden’s foreign minister pays the first visit to Russia over the past three years.