Russia hoping to revive ties with Europe: Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin says Moscow is set to restore its European ties, severely affected by the crisis in Ukraine in recent months.
"We are really hoping that we not only rebuild our relations with Europe generally, including with Eastern Europe and the Czech Republic, but also develop them further," Putin said at a Saturday meeting with Czech President Miloš Zeman in the capital Moscow.
He also added that it was the West, not Russia, which initiated cooling the relations with Moscow.
Zeman, in his turn, said the West’s anti-Russian sanctions will end in the near future, adding, "I'm fully confident that the sanctions are short-term... I publicly protested against the sanctions."
Western powers have imposed several rounds of sanctions against Russia over accusations that it is involved in the deadly crisis in neighboring Ukraine, which broke out when Kiev launched military operations to crack down on pro-Russians in eastern Ukraine last year. Russia has denied the allegations.
In a tit-for-tat measure, Moscow imposed yearlong food bans on the United States, the European Union, Australia, Canada, and Norway in August last year.
The Czech president had earlier stated that the Western sanctions imposed on Russia are counterproductive and provoke tensions.
“The sanctions are not merely inefficient; on the contrary, they are counterproductive. They only whip up tensions instead of promoting de-escalation,” Zeman told Russia’s TASS news agency on May 3.
He further highlighted the significance of cooperation between Russia and the EU, saying, “Russia and the European Union are economically supplementary. They are not rivals but are geared towards cooperation. Russia needs advanced technologies, while the European Union needs imported raw materials and resources.”
MSM/NT/AS
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