The Kremlin: We regret the European Union's refusal to hold a summit with Putin

The Kremlin has expressed its regret over the European Union's refusal to hold a summit with Putin, Sky News reported. The President of the European Commission, Ossola von der Leyen, announced that relations between Russia and the European Union are heading in a negative direction.

On the same level, the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Alexander Grushko, explained the reason for the failure of the Russian-European summit, after planning to organize it. Grushko said that the idea of ​​organizing the summit of the European Union and Russia failed due to its fall into the "Bermuda Triangle" represented by "repelling, restricting and cooperating" against Russia, according to Sputnik.

"As we expected, the idea of ​​resuming the organization of the summit, or at least of organizing at least one summit initially, fell into the Bermuda Triangle, which Borrell formulated, the principles that should be a compass with regard to Russia: blocking, restraint and cooperation," the official said.

Earlier, the President of the European Commission, Osola von der Leyen, announced that relations between Russia and the European Union are heading to a negative direction, explaining that she is looking forward to more positive relations with Moscow.

The Kremlin also valued, earlier, the proposal to hold a summit between Russia and the European Union, noting at the same time that work had not yet begun to implement this initiative on the ground.

It is noteworthy that relations between Russia and Western countries, including the United States and the European Union, worsened against the backdrop of the Ukraine crisis. Brussels and Washington accuse Russia of interfering in the conflict in eastern Ukraine, which Moscow has denied more than once, stressing that it is not a party to the Ukrainian conflict.

Despite the strong Russian relations at the bilateral level with some European countries with which it has strategic relations, the ties with the European Union as a whole are heading to more tension and crisis against the backdrop of European sanctions.

Russia escalated its rhetoric against the European Union, as it expelled European diplomats from Moscow, in a development described as adding more complexity to the future of relations between the two sides, and revealing a new episode of deteriorating relations.