WASHINGTON, March 21. /TASS/. Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano on Tuesday came out in favor of overcoming problems in relations between Russia and the West and a return to the G8 format.

"We need to overcome our problems, we need warm relations with Russia," the foreign minister said in reply to a TASS query at an Atlantic Council meeting in Washington.

He warned, however, that no necessary conditions for this exist at the moment. "We need to overcome sanctions and we need to implement the Minsk agreements. We need to make any efforts to implement these agreements," the foreign minister said. He also spoke in favor of the revival of the G8 format.

"And I hope that the G7 in Taormina will be the last G7, and the next one will be G8," Antelino Alfano said. The top Italian diplomat confirmed his plans to visit Moscow. Answering the question what was the message he was taking to Russia, he said "I'd like to express to my colleagues the necessity to overcome our problems". " I think it's in the mind of any responsible man that it's useful for the world to have a warm relationship with Russia," the diplomat stressed.