RUSSIA LAYS NO CLAIMS TO MONOPOLY IN DIALOGUE WITH EU

ARKA News Agency
Sept 12 2005

YEREVAN, September 12. /ARKA-RIA “Novosty”/. Russia does not lay
claims to monopoly in the CIS in the dialogue with the European Union,
Russian Permanent Representative to EU Vladimir Chizhov said.

“Russia’s official position is: we do not lay claims to monopoly of
the post-Soviet state. We are ready to develop a dialogue with the
EU, the more so that a number of the CIS countries aim at integration
into the EU,” Chizhov said in his interview to Nezavisimaya Gazeta.

“We are also ready to discuss prospects of cooperation with the CIS
structures, first of economic cooperation. This is Common European
Space and EurAsEc,” Chizhov said.

He pointed out that when the European Economic Space was formed “there
were natural question about how it was connected with our work with
the EU, and we provided comprehensive answers to those questions.”

As regards the Nagorno-Karabakh, Transdniestrian and other conflicts,
he said that the EU is interested in both discussing and assisting
in settling them. “We are ready to consider various political and
material proposals,” he said.

Chizhov said that each of the conflicts has its own format of
negotiations. In the case of Nagorny Karabakh it is the OSCE Minsk
Group. “These formats may not be perfect, but they are optimal and
acceptable for all the conflicting parties. If the EU wants and
can contribute to progress, we only welcome this. This position
is incorporated in a joint statement of the RF and EU adopted at
the Rome Summit in 2003,” Chizhov said. Speaking of the domestic
political situation in the CIS he stated that “each side is free to
state its opinion.”

“Any joint actions of Russia and EU to influence the political
situation in a country are out of the question. This concerns both
Belarus and other countries. As regards our assessments of colored
revolutions, we can make them as part of the RF-EU dialogue and on
other international platforms,” Chizhov said. P.T. -0–