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Russian Deputy Foreign Minister: â€œIt is wrong to make CIS countries choose Russia or the European Unionâ€

31 October 2013 09:15 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Victoria Dementyeva – APA. Moscow calls on the European Union to find such a cooperation with the CIS countries that they wouldn’t be forced to make a choice between Russia and the EU, said Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin addressing the international conference held on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Federation Council of Russia, APA reports.

He said that the region shouldn’t be a playground for geopolitical games, but a space for mutually beneficial cooperation without dividing lines: “Russia follows the development of the EU’s Eastern Partnership Program aiming at the rapprochement with Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Belarus and Ukraine. The Federation Council will host a roundtable on "The EU's geopolitical projects in the CIS space: ways of implementation and possible outcomes".

Touching on the cooperation with the CIS countries, Karasin noted that one of the priorities of his activity is the election monitoring in the member states: "The practice of sending observers has justified itself. Monitoring missions’ experience and international reputation are increasing. Activity of the CIS election observation mission was established basing on collectively agreed legal framework, unlike the OSCE ODIHR.
It gives us the opportunity to put forward our general approaches to the election problem in the international discussions.”