Lavrov blames EU for consistently severing relations with Russia
MOSCOW. Feb 15 (Interfax) - The European Union has been consistently rupturing relations with Russia, and this process was initiated by Brussels and has been continuing for quite a long time, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
"In principle, any person more or less following the situation in Europe has been aware for a long time that it's the EU that has been consistently rupturing these relations for years," Lavrov said at a press conference in Moscow on Monday, following negotiations with Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto, when commenting on his recent remark in an interview that, if such happens, Russia will be prepared for a breakoff of relations with the EU.
"The year 2014 became a kind of turning point, when there was a coup in Ukraine, and the European Union essentially showed its helplessness with regard to the agreement that had been reached between the administration and the opposition right before the coup and which Germany, France, and Poland signed," Lavrov said.
Shortly afterward, "the opposition dumped those signatures," Lavrov said. "This is when the European Union was truly humiliated," he said.
"It's well known how the European Union mostly indifferently observed the residents of Crimea and eastern Ukraine being harassed by the ultra-radicals and neo-Nazis who came to power," Lavrov said.
"The European Union heaped [the blame for what happened in Ukraine] on Russia," he said.
"The European Union consistently ruined absolutely all mechanisms that existed on the basis of the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, including the summits held twice a year and including annual meetings between the Russian government and European commissioners," Lavrov said.
The European Union has also curtailed the work on the four common spaces and the work of the sectoral commissions, Lavrov said. "All of this has been ruined, and I'd repeat, it's been ruined not by us," he said.
Russia's contacts with the European Union are "currently sporadic" and are limited either to deliveries of fossil fuels or foreign policy issues, Lavrov said.
"It's been for years now that contacts between the Russian foreign minister and the [EU] high representatives, [High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and European Commission Vice President] Josep Borrell and his predecessor Federica Mogherini, have dealt mainly not with a review of all relations with the European Union, because almost no relations are left now, but with some situational conversations about Syria, the Iranian nuclear program, or some other international situation," he said.
"We've been meeting from time to time, depending on interests, primarily on Brussels's side," Lavrov said. "We aren't imposing ourselves and stand ready to consider any issues of mutual interest," he said.
The Finnish foreign minister said, "There have been no proposals on the part of the European Union on severing the relationship between the EU and Russia."
"When the high representative, Mr. Borrell, visited Russia last week, his objective was precisely to improve relations between the European Union and Russia," Haavisto said.
"If we talk about the consequences [of a rupture between the EU and Russia], I find it very hard or even impossible to imagine the European Union without the Schengen area and without Schengen visas," he said.
"If it were necessary to apply to visit each EU country separately, as used to be the case earlier, that would be very hard. It's hard to imagine this," Haavisto said.
"I absolutely agree with Mr. Lavrov that good relations between the European Union and Russia would be in the best interests of business, the economy, and entrepreneurship," he said.