'EU-Russia economic cooperation increasingly difficult'

BRUSSELS: Economic cooperation between Europe and Russia is becoming increasingly difficult, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. "Many attempts on our side over many, many years, almost decades to improve [the] relationship with Russia did not have (the) success they deserved," dpa news agency quoted von der Leyen as saying at an EU summit here on Monday. "Economic cooperation over time has gotten more and more difficult," she said, adding that the Russian economy needs to be modernised.

"What we see today is an economy that is lacking an enormous amount of modernization that would be necessary, an economy that is highly depending on energy revenues, but a regime that is not willing to interact in a constructive way with us." Von der Leyen said she is planning new proposals for dealing with Russia, including regarding the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline. IANS

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