Success of Russian-French cooperation depends on quality of Russia-EU relations - 18 July, 2002 - News

Success of Russian-French cooperation, including that in the trade and economic sphere, depends on the quality of the relationship development between Russia and the European Union, said Russia's official foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko in an interview he gave RIA Novosti in advance of the French foreign minister's visit to Moscow.

Recalling that France repeatedly voted for a closer collaboration between Russia and the EU and said it regarded Moscow as a global partner of the EU, Yakovenko observed that Moscow and Paris were interested to see "improvement of Russia-US relations and furthering of the Russia-NATO partnership going alongside development of Russia-EU interaction." Being a leader of the EU, France can help streamline this process by contributing to the settlement of the Kaliningrad problem, said Yakovenko, adding that Paris could also play an important role in the effort to streamline cooperation between Russia and the EU in the sphere of security and foreign policy.