Moscow disagrees that Russian-EU relations have become fully degraded - diplomat
MOSCOW. June 8 (Interfax) - The Russian Foreign Ministry has dismissed the opinion that the Russian-EU relationship has become fully degraded.
"Saying that our relations have become fully degraded would be an exaggeration," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Meshkov said in an interview with Interfax.
"Brussels understands that cooperation with Russia is imperative in settling the crises in Syria, Iraq, Libya, and Yemen, in resolving the conflict between Israel and Palestine, and in combating international terrorism," he said.
"The same concerns nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction and arms control, the countering of drug trafficking and illegal migration, interaction in the humanitarian field, and the overcoming of climate change consequences," he said.
"Active political dialogue at different levels is continuing on these and other topical issues," Meshkov said.
At the same time, when asked whether the term 'strategic partnership' can be applicable to current relations between Moscow and Brussels at all, the diplomat replied," What counts most is not what term we use to describe our relations but their real depth and durability, our ability to work together on strategic issues of the modern day, and, finally, the practical effect of this interaction."
"We hope that, if and when common sense prevails in Brussels, we will be able to bring our cooperation to a qualitatively new level based on the principles I mentioned before," he said.
Moscow will pursue cooperation with Brussels exclusively on an equal basis and by taking mutual interests into consideration, he said.
"It is absolutely out of the question that the EU could unilaterally select areas for our interaction, which was mentioned in the notorious five principles of EU-Russia relations that were voiced recently. Their selection is possible only on a reciprocal basis," he said.
Moscow sees the "master-slave" pattern of interaction that the European Union has been trying to impose on Russia for years as unacceptable, he said.
"And we probably agree with Brussels here: there can't be business as usual any longer," Meshkov said.
