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Swedish minister: No common values between Russia and West

Carl Bildt (wikipedia)

-The strategic partnership of the EU and Russia has been based on common values. It is most obvious that we are not in such a situation now. We can still talk about common interests, but not common values, Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt says.

Location

In an interview with Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat, Mr. Bildt says that the EU must reassess its policy toward Russia. Minister Bildt, who on several recent occasions have been highly outspoken about Russian politics, maintains that Russian now must choose where it wants to belong. “Russia itself must make a choice on what road it will take. Is it the geopolitics of the 19th century or the path of integration, networking, and global cooperation of the 21st, which Europe is leaning on”, Bildt says. There is much of the 19th century to be found in current Russian rhetoric, he adds. Mr. Bildt does not however believe in confrontation between Russia and the West. He also highlights the economic interdependence of the EU and Russia. Still, except for natural gas, Russia is more dependent of the EU than vice versa. -If we forget natural gas, Russia is more economically dependent on the EU than vice versa, Bildt says to the Finnish newspaper.