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Thank you Minister [for Foreign Affairs of Russia, Sergei] Lavrov for your invitation and for the opportunity to have a frank and open discussion. It has been an intense discussion and is still not finished. We will continue talking about other issues after this press conference.

The purpose of my visit today is to discuss the challenges we are facing, including issues where our views diverge and to listen to each other’s concerns.

We have to recognise that, over the last years, our relations have been marked by fundamental differences and a lack of trust. We are seeing each other more as a competitor or rival, rather than a partner.

And yet, the European Union is Russia’s first trading partner. The European Union is Russia’s greatest source of foreign direct investment.

Russian students are among the largest group of beneficiaries of the Erasmus Plus programme and university exchanges. And most of the European Union Schengen visas are issued to Russian citizens.

Russia is our biggest neighbour; it is part of Europe. Engagement with Russia is therefore of key importance for the European Union.

However, events both at home and abroad make it difficult to have the relationship that we dreamt of in the 1990s, when we talked about a Europe from Lisbon to Vladivostok. This is today much more difficult than 20 or 30 years ago.

My visit coincides with the arrest and sentencing of Alexei Navalny, and the arrest of thousands of demonstrators. As you can expect, I have conveyed to Minister Lavrov our deep concern and reiterated our appeal for his release and the launch of an impartial investigation over his poisoning.

While we fully respect Russia’s sovereignty and its own responsibility regarding the fulfilment of its international commitments, the European Union considers that issues related to the rule of law, human rights, civil society, and political freedom are central to a common future, both for the European Union and Russia.

But at the same time, there are issues on which we can and must work together, because when we do, we achieve good results. The Minister has been mentioning several of them and I subscribe to his words: on culture, on research, on health, on facing COVID-19, on the Arctic, on climate, on digital - we have a lot of things that can be done to deepen engagement from both sides and benefit in a tangible way.

On the international arena, I think that the Minister has made reference to that, there are places and issues on which we can also work together: the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA) is a good example. On the Middle East Peace Process, we agree on the need to engage in this process, to reinvigorate the Quartet and to try to work together and engage also the new United States administration.

On the green economy, our ambitious Green Deal to fight climate change and environmental challenges will give also a lot of opportunities to cooperate. We count on Russia to make a success of the next Glasgow (UN COP26) conference and to cooperate in order to prepare for the new environment where the consumption of fossil fuels will decrease.

In line with the Helsinki Final Act, stability in Europe must be based on cooperation, respect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of nations, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. And in this framework, we need to find spaces for understanding and to build mutual trust.

This is the purpose of my visit. This is the first step. We will continue to disagree on several things, but we have to look for places in which we can agree and cooperate.

Link to the video: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-201701

Q. Before your visit, European officials have expressed their assessments with regard to rights and freedoms in Russia. You have expressed your assessment on the [Alexei] Navalny case but I am concerned by the situation of rights and freedom in European Union countries. On 3 December seven Sputnik colleagues were arrested in Latvia, they were searched and they face criminal charges and they might be sent to prison. They face criminal charges for violating sanctions of the European Union imposed on Russia. Those journalists worked with Baltnews, Sputnik, they worked with our Russia Today outlet that are not covered by EU Sanctions and these journalists are not on any EU sanctions list. I believe this constitutes a violation of their human rights and freedom, it violates the rights of Latvians to access information, and the rights of journalists to carry out their work. We have seen similar action taken by Ukrainian authorities where they have blocked three TV channels. Are you ready to use your political authority and administrative bill to sort out this situation with Latvian and Ukrainian journalists? Also, an American colleague asked me to ask the following: the third session of EU-Cuba joint council took place and you co-chaired that event. What is your current assessment of the current status of dialogue between Europe and Cuba? Do you believe that this format can give an impulse to reducing tensions between Havana and Washington?

I am a little bit surprised. I did not expect to talk about Cuba here in Moscow, but there is nothing to hide in EU-Cuba relations. Yes, we have a Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement with Cuba, under which we exchange and cooperate in several areas. I am interested in knowing why your American colleagues are so interested in that, because there is nothing new.

I co-chaired recently a meeting with the Cuban Foreign Affairs Minister, Bruno Rodríguez, and we talked about our priorities for future cooperation for the 2021-2027 period, which will be focused on economic modernisation, bilateral trade and ecological transition. You know that the European Union rejects the US embargo on Cuba, and we continue to express this also vis-à-vis the new US administration. There is nothing more that I can say about that. We expect the US administration to review its position with respect to Cuba and we continue, in the framework of our political dialogue, to cooperate on several issues, as I mentioned.

About these events [around] journalists arrested in Latvia, all European Union Member States are submitted to the rule of law and the control of the judiciary, for any event, affecting anyone. So I am confident that the judiciary system in Latvia will take care of this situation according with the commitments that all European Union Member States have taken, developed according to the rule of law and basic freedom and rights. And see what is happening.

[Minister Lavrov speaks]

[High Representative/Vice-President Borrell]: [Returning to] the question about Cuba. It is an interesting thing, there is this Spanish film called ‘Palm Trees in the Snow’, I am talking about Cuba here in Moscow, it is snowing, it reminds me of this film. Let me add some parts to my answer because this American journalist maybe can be interested in that. We regretted very much the designation by [former US President, Donald] Trump to include Cuba as a country supporting terrorism. They [the Trump administration] took this decision on their last hours in office. I want to take this opportunity to insist that we strongly regret this kind of decision, and we expect that the new [US] administration will bring things back to the situation prior to this decision, [which was] taken at the last minute by the Trump administration and is going to create a lot of difficulties for the Cuban people and for the trade and economic relationship between the European Union and Cuba.

Q. Mr Borrell, you said - just before coming here in Moscow - that the relationship between the European Union and Russia is at its lowest point. I want to ask you something to see if we can find a common ground between the two blocks. One issue that is very much high on the agenda here is that the pandemic created a block of travel between the European Union and Russia. Russian people who live in the EU on long-term visas and Italian and European people who live in Russia on long-term visas – businessmen and all of that - have serious problems travelling between the two blocks. We know people who have not seen their families for a year now. Can Russia and the European Union work on something in the near future to see if we can ease these blocks? All people understand that, due to the pandemic, tourism for instance cannot be re-established so easily, but we are talking about people who live here.

Nobody takes any pleasure in imposing travel restrictions. It is a need in order to contain the [COVID-19] pandemic. It is a constraint that had to be imposed - to the Italians living in Russia, to the Russians living in Italy, to everybody - on behalf of the public health and in order to try to contain the pandemic. We are all working together towards the reopening of our societies, economies and borders as quickly as possible, but as safely as possible. And yes, there are currently temporary restrictions of non-essential travel to the European Union. Member States are responsible for reviewing the list of constraints and restrictions regularly and to update it. Believe me, it is impossible for me to make any prediction as to when Member States will decide to reopen the European Union’s external border. But this is precisely why it is so important that we work together in a coordinated way in order to overcome the pandemic.

Q: To Mr Lavrov. Talking about common ground and talking about issues that can bring Russia and Europe together and not divide [them], do you see that the Sputnik vaccine may be a tool that in the end may bring Russia and Europe closer? Or could it actually be the opposite, another tool that puts the two blocks in a different position?

[Minister Lavrov speaks]

[High Representative/Vice-President Borrell]: I take the floor just to congratulate Russia for this success. It is good news for the whole of mankind, because it means that we are going to have more tools to face the pandemic. I am very happy to read scientific report published in the prestigious scientific magazine The Lancet, explaining the performance of the Russian vaccine. Now I am hoping that the European Medical Agency will be able to certify the efficiency of this vaccine in order to be used also in European Union Member States. It would be good news, because, as you know, we are facing a shortage of vaccines and if there is another source of supply, [it would be] welcomed. And congratulations for the Russian scientific capabilities.

Q. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Sergei Lavrov promised to provide you video material of the footage of police crackdowns on protests in the EU. Were you able to see this material? Has it had an influence on the view whether the EU has a moral right to criticise Russia for law enforcement agencies’ action with regard to protesters? What are you trying to do when you criticise it? Have Russian officials shown that they are going to listen to you and they are going to take it into account?

Well I have not had the opportunity to watch this video, which has been produced by the Russian authorities, but, for sure, the excessive use of force does not only happen in Russia. Over half of this video was related to the excessive use of force in the US, and I have to tell you than when it did happen, and unhappily, it happened, we also issued statements condemning the excessive use of force.

When this happens in a country where there is the rule of law, there is the judiciary that has to intervene and these cases can be brought to justice. If there is an excessive use of force, there are ways of putting things in order and asking for responsibility: political responsibility and responsibility of the people who behaved badly. This is the advantage of having a strong rule of law system.

Q. I know you already talk about that in your introduction but I will repeat the same question. Which messages did you convey to Mr Lavrov regarding the sentence against Alexei Navalny and the repression of the peaceful demonstrations? If you could elaborate a little bit more on that. Do you think it is possible that the European Union will adopt in the near future sanctions against the eight people named in the list of oligarchs elaborated by [Alexei] Navalny?

I can only repeat what I already said in my first words. For sure, we have been talking about the case of [Alexei] Navalny and the people arrested in the demonstrations. I have conveyed to Minister Lavrov our deep concerns and reiterated our appeal for the release of [Alexei] Navalny and an impartial investigation of his poisoning. I think that a fully and transparent investigation could help in order to clarify what has happened with this attempt of poisoning of Mr Navalny. But, frankly speaking, I can repeat it two, three, four times and as many times as you want but this is the same.

About further sanctions, there is no proposal by the time being by any [EU] Member State. Discussions will continue in the next Foreign Affairs Council, and also the European Union leaders will have in March an important discussion about the relationship between the European Union and Russia. My visit here [to Moscow] is part of the preparation of this debate. It is very important that we clarify what do we want to do with our relations. Together, today, with the Minister [Lavrov], we have identified some fields in which we can cooperate in spite of the differences and disagreements in others, both bilaterally and in the international arena. I think it is important to note that this willingness for cooperation remains, in spite of the disagreements that we have on very important issues about which we also have to talk.

Link to the video: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-201701