Lavrov: Russia wants EU to have good relations with US but remain independent

Russia wants the European Union to have good relations with the United States but make decisions on its own, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Saturday live during the Vesti v Subbotu program on the Rossiya 1 TV channel.
Russia is ready to have consultations with Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine on adapting economic policies following those countries’ association with the European Union, Russia’s Foreign Minister said.
“For almost a year now we have been prepared for consultations of the kind,” he said. “As soon as the initialled texts of the draft agreements were published, we, of course, organised a professional analysis, especially regarding the countries in the CIS free trade zone - Ukraine and Moldova.”
The foreign minister continued saying Georgia was a full-fledged member of the free trade zone, “but it is a party in several agreements, which allow participation in projects not only for the Commonwealth countries, but for other countries, and thus enjoys certain privileges.”
“We shall consider the current situation from the point of view of the only criterion - how could it affect trade conditions for Russia and other countries remaining in the CIS free trade zone,” the foreign minister said. “Sure, first of all we are concerned about Russia’s interests, and interests of countries in the Customs Union - Belarus and Kazakhstan.”
Lavrov said he did not share “radical forecasts - that the association with the EU would mean economic suicide.” “However, I have seen figures. They demonstrate how “correct” and claims everything in Europe will be “different” and “much better”.”
“We are interested first of all to see what could be the influence on our market of the duty-free import of European goods to Ukraine or Moldova, pushing out of Moldovan and Ukrainian goods from their markets to be replaced by more competitive European goods, and what will happen to the markets in the countries of the Customs Union - Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan,” Lavrov said.