Negotiations between the European Union and Russia would be helpful on a number of issues, not least to tell Russian President Vladimir Putin bluntly that cyberattacks are not the basis for productive relations.
This was stated by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, reports “Evropeyskaya Pravda” with reference to Reuters.
“Here I believe that it is better not only to talk among ourselves, but also to confront the Russian president and say that there can be no fruitful cooperation on such a basis”, – Merkel said.
On Friday, European Union leaders rejected a Franco-German offer to hold a summit with Russia after Poland and the Baltic states said it would send the wrong message at a time of deteriorating East-West ties.
Merkel said that relations between Russia and the European Union are not really good at the moment, but even during the
Cold War, people communicated with each other, therefore, according to the chancellor, silence does not contribute to solving problems.
At the same time, she added that the EU leaders have identified the problems that they agreed that they want to solve with Russia, and instructed officials to consider the formats and conditions under which negotiations with Moscow can continue.
“This means that we have taken a step forward, but we have not yet reached our goal”.