Moscow - There is no alternative to an improvement of Russia-EU relations, and Russia is ready to discuss the creation of a free trade zone with Europe, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
“I think none of the sober-minded people in Europe will argue with the opinion that there no reasonable alternative to an improvement of Russia-EU relations,” Lavrov told executives from member companies of the European Business Association in Moscow on Tuesday, Oct. 14.
“While fostering Eurasian integration, we remain open to interaction with other countries and other regional unions. We are ready to discuss prospects for the creation of a free trade zone with the European Union,” the minister said.
According to Lavrov, Russia and the European Union should improve their relations, especially as “a fire of instability and armed conflicts is spreading and a wave of extremism and terrorism is rising south of our borders.”
“We will bump into obstacles in the effort to deepen cooperation over and over again unless we define clear long-term goals. Moscow still thinks that the phased building of a common economic and humanitarian space from Lisbon to Vladivostok based on an equal and indivisible security architecture is a natural goal,” the Russian foreign minister said.
