LONDON, October 4 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday Russia had not surrendered its position on a readmission agreement with the European Union but only modified its stance.
"I do not think that we backtracked on any points, we merely met our European partners halfway," Putin told a news conference in London following a Russia-EU summit.
Putin added that the Russian Foreign Ministry's position "was seriously modified during the talks."
"We have acquired some practical experience of relations with one of the EU nations - we signed a readmission agreement with Lithuania a few years ago," Putin said, adding that 1.7 million had crossed the Russian-Lithuanian border since then.
"We have not a single readmission case [with Lithuania]. Then why shall we argue? Why shall we be sticking to our position?" Putin said.
