Macron suggests resetting EU-Russia relations

FORT BREGANCON - French President Emmanuel Macron calls for resetting the relations between the European Union and Russia, whereas the lack of dialogue will lead to further rapprochement between Moscow and Beijing.

Macron said with confidence that even there are some disagreements "common ground should be sought and our relations, the relations between Russia and the European Union should be reset."

"If we in the Council of Europe continued to argue Russia would have shut the door. For instance, the Russians would not have an opportunity to go to the European Court of Human Rights," the French leader said.

Abandoning the dialogue with Russia would lead "us to pushing away a great power, the Russian Federation, which would turn away from Europe and would completely turn towards China, but this does not meet the interests of France and the European Union," he added.

"I am profoundly convinced that we have major projects, in which we will move forward, and France will remain Russia's major economic partner," Macron said at a joint press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Putin, in turn, stressed the importance of Russian-French relations. In particular, "France's position played a substantial role and almost a key one" in Russia's return to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).