You're reading: EU ambassador to Russia says relations with Russia ‘couldn’t be worse’

MOSCOW - The European Union's ambassador to Russia said today's EU-Russia relations "couldn't be worse."

 “Sanctions aren’t an end in itself. The main purpose is a search for a political solution to the deep crisis in eastern Ukraine, where Russia would be able to significantly influence stabilization,” Vygaudas Usackas said in comments to Interfax on Aug. 6 decree by Russian President Vladimir Putin that ordered economic sanctions against Western countries in retaliation for the Western anti-Russian sanctions.

“It couldn’t be worse. One can’t go any further. We might try to see how we would be able to work together and not impose sanctions,” he said.

“We’ve come up against fundamental problems in relations between Russia and the European Union. But also in relations between the sister nations of Russia and Ukraine. The main point is not sanctions but whether we will be able to turn this page. It’s not sanctions that matter but a mutual [desire] to resolve the crisis,” Usackas said.