The European Union is an unreliable partner and ignores Russia's efforts to establish an equal dialogue, said foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in interview to the newspaper " Kommersant ". So the head of the Ministry explained the possibility of mitigating punishment of European countries to progress in the Ukrainian issue. According to him, Moscow is not interested in whether it wants the EU to cancel the restrictive punishment. "The European Union is an unreliable partner, as it continues to play in the geopolitics of the" with us or against us ". All our efforts to establish an equal dialogue, to abandon the logic of "friend or foe" in our common space failed, " - said the diplomat. according to his statement, the European Union, "professed this logic" even before the Ukrainian fall and the annexation of Crimea. Lavrov said that during the first Maidan in 2004, the official Commissioners of the EU put the Ukrainian authorities to Russia or Europe. He also commented on the " Eastern partnership ", which was created for the integration of six former Soviet republics (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine) with the European Union. According to Lavrov, at the launch of the project Moscow was interested in whether the program desires of Russia. "he said that we will take part in some individual projects, made an offer to join the observer. This is the question of equality and cooperation, which will rely on a balance of interests, " concluded the foreign Minister. Relations between Russia and Europe have deteriorated amid the Ukrainian fall and the annexation of Crimea in 2014. European countries have accused Moscow of meddling in the internal Affairs of Kiev and imposed punishment. Russia retaliated and took a course on import substitution. leader Vladimir Putin mentioned many times that Europe should not speak with Russia the language of sanctions. The President also noted that Moscow is not a party to the Ukrainian conflict and supports peaceful settlement of the fall. over the last period of time in European countries increasingly, there are calls to abolish the punishment against Russia because of restrictive measures in the 1st turn, harm the economy of the countries - participants of EU. <span style="color:darkgray