Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov pointed out this Friday in an interview that there are currently no “sporadic contacts” between Russia and the European Union.
“There has been nothing left, not even sporadic contacts on international affairs,” the head of Russian diplomacy told RBC TV.
Thus, in the talks related to the Iranian nuclear problem, Russia and the EU participate in the work of a joint group and the same happens in the talks on the Middle East, where there is a “quartet” of mediators made up of Russia, the US, the EU. and the UN, Lavrov said.
“That is, it is not about (our) relationship with the EU, but about international cooperation,” he said.
Last week, Lavrov alluded to a possible breakdown of relations with the European Union in the event of new sanctions, after the high representative for EU Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, assured that Russia “is progressively disconnecting from Europe” .
At the same time, this Monday the Russian diplomat explained that the rupture between Russia and the Twenty-seven began in 2014 in Ukraine, while reminding that “the EU should not be confused with Europe.”
Borrell, who on February 5 became the first head of community diplomacy to visit Russia since 2017, admitted that the meeting with Lavrov had been tense, especially when he called for the release of the opposition leader, Alexei Navalni, sentenced to a sentence jail.
Upon his return to Brussels, the Spanish diplomat did not rule out the adoption of a new set of sanctions against Moscow, something that several members of the Union have already requested.
The Kremlin this week expressed its confidence that the EU has the political will to continue the dialogue with Russia and that this will prevail over the threat of a new spiral of sanctions.