Russia Ready to Cooperate With All European Parliament Factions - Lawmaker

Konstantin Kosachev, the chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Russian upper house of parliament, stated that Russia is ready to cooperate with all political forces in the European Parliament, with all factions.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russia is ready to cooperate with all factions in the European Parliament regardless of their attitude toward Moscow, the chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Russian upper house of parliament, Konstantin Kosachev, said Friday.

"We are ready to cooperate with all political forces in the European Parliament, with all factions. We are ready to talk to those, who are sharing our positions, and those. who are strictly opposing them. We are strong supporters of the continuation of the inter-parliamentary dialogue," Kosachev said at a meeting with Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, the vice-president of the European Parliament.

Since 2014, relations between Russia and the European Union deteriorated amid the crisis in Ukraine. Brussels, Washington and their allies have introduced several rounds of anti-Russia sanctions since Crimea became part of Russia in 2014 and over Moscow's alleged involvement in the Ukrainian conflict and as well as in the conflict in Syria.

According to Kosachev, the introduction by Brussels of restrictive measures against Russian lawmakers was illogical, however, the European Parliament remains a very important partner of Moscow.