MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday blamed the European Union for deteriorating relations with Russia and accused the bloc of systematically destroying cooperation mechanisms.
Ties between Russia and the West, already at a low point after the Cold War, have come under renewed pressure over the fate of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, whose imprisonment and treatment by Moscow gave rise to the prospect of further sanctions against Russia. .
Last week, Lavrov said Moscow would be willing to sever ties with the European Union if the bloc hits it with painful economic sanctions, a statement Germany described as disturbing and incomprehensible.
Lavrov blamed the poor state of ties with Brussels on Monday during talks with the Finnish foreign minister.
“Relations have been torn apart by the European Union throughout,” Lavrov was quoted as saying by the RIA news agency. “The carcass of these relations was deliberately destroyed on the initiative of Brussels.”
The pressure on sanctions has increased since Russia infuriated European countries this month by expelling German, Polish and Swedish diplomats without informing the EU head of foreign policy, who was in Moscow at the time.
Lavrov said on Monday: “The EU has continuously destroyed all mechanisms without exception.”
He said, however, that this did not mean that Russia would withdraw from its relations with individual member states.
“Do not confuse Europe with the European Union. When it comes to Europe, we are not going anywhere,” Lavrov said. “We have many friends in Europe.”
(Reporting by Polina Ivanova and Tom Balmforth; Editing by Peter Graff)