(Reuters) -Russia must change its behaviour if it wants better relations with the European Union, a senior EU official said on Monday.
“The downwards trend in EU-Russia relations can only change if Russia stops disruptive behavior,” Charles Michel, who chairs EU summits, wrote on Twitter after a telephone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The EU and Russia disagree on a wide range of issues including human rights, Russia’s intervention in Ukraine and Moscow’s treatment of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.
In March, the EU imposed sanctions on four senior Russian officials close to Putin in response to Navalny’s jailing. Other EU sanctions on Moscow include measures taken by the EU in 2014 after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine.
Michel said in a statement that EU-Russia relations were at a low point and added: “This situation or its further deterioration is in neither side’s interest.”
Russia blames the deterioration in relations on the EU.
(Reporting by Sabine Siebold and Marine Strauss, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
