ROME. July 5 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said he expected Russia and the European Union to fully restore their relations, which should be important to new European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
"We are grateful to Italy for its position, which is that our relations with the European Union should be restored in full," Putin said at a press conference following talks with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Thursday.
"We see the Italian government's efforts on this track, and we are grateful for that," Putin said.
Russia understands that "Italy is bound by certain obligations within various integration entities both in Europe and NATO, and therefore we actually don't have any grudge to bear against our Italian friends," he said.
Talking about new European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Putin said it is for the citizens of the European countries to assess her performance.
"She has been defense minister lately. We don't know how she is going to show herself in the new job. We expect that Europe's interest in restoring full-format relations with Russia would matter to the European Union leadership," Putin said.
The European Union countries are incurring losses because of the sanctions on Russia, Putin said.
"Our trade turnover with the European Union was $450 billion in 2013, while now I believe it is $279 billion. Where are these missing billions? I'll tell you: these are lost profits, and not only ours, but also those of European countries, including Italy," Putin said.
European countries have not shipped "goods worth billions" to the Russian market, Putin said. "This means that no new jobs have been created or former ones have been lost, people haven't received their wages, and no taxes have come to all levels of the budget system. This is damage to all of us," Putin said.
Putin reiterated that he expected "the new European leadership to take this into consideration and build relations with Russia in an appropriate way."
"As for us, we are prepared to walk the part of the road that depends on us," he said.