BRUSSELS. Dec 23 (Interfax) - Russia's Permanent Representative to the European Union Vladimir Chizhov has warned against overly optimistic assessment of possible consequences for the relations between Russia and the EU of a summit held by the "Normandy quartet" (Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France) in Paris on December 9, 2019.
"The 'Normandy summit' is a positive phenomenon. But no breakthrough happened there. I think some additional movements will be needed for all this to grow into real positive changes in the Russia-EU format," Chizhov said in an interview with Interfax.
Asked about suggestions in the media that the summit outcomes could stimulate a return to certain frozen cooperation formats such as the Permanent Partnership Council at a ministerial level or a resumption of talks on visa-free travel, Chizhov said: "These are quite optimistic forecasts. I would be more careful in assessing the situation."
He also urged strictly determining the sides and their obligations in implementing the Minsk agreements which aims to settle the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Asked whether the implementation of the agreements' military components (disengagement, a lasting ceasefire) would facilitate at least a partial relaxation of the EU sanctions against Russia and, if so, would such relaxation be a gradual process, Chizhov said: "With regard to the implementation of the militant components, the question is: implementation by whom? Ensuring the withdrawal of forces and a lasting ceasefire is the task of the conflicting parties, i.e. Kyiv, on the one hand, and Donetsk and Luhansk, on the other. So, tying the implementation of the military (and other) components of the Minsk agreements to a hypothetical lifting of the so-called EU sanctions is quite artificial.
"As for how the EU will be exiting the dead-end it has driven itself into with its own restrictions, actually this is to it whether [it will do so] gradually or all at once. We were, are and will be holding no talks with the EU on this score. This is a problem it has created itself and it is for it to resolve, to break this deadlock," Chizhov said.
At the same time, he does not think there is a single anti-Russian dogma in Europe.
"I personally think that, for all this seeming unanimity within the EU, there are different points of views here, at the Brussels EU institutions, let alone among member states. Many EU representatives admit that it is getting increasingly harder for them to keep a united front, including on the track of the critical approach to Russia," Chizhov said.