Belgium: Russian Ambassador seeks reconciliation with EU parliaments

W/S Russian Ambassador to European Union Vladimir Chizhov enters press conference, Brussels
W/S Press conference
SOT, Vladimir Chizhov, Russian Ambassador to European Union: "As far as the European Parliament is concerned, well, I must admit the outcome of the elections didn't come as a big surprise to me and I think, I haven't seen many surprised faces around Brussels. The fact that the two major mainstream parties, the EPP [European People's Party] and the Socialists and Democrats declined, their support declined, this was to be expected and I think this was predicted by many analysts and experts. That the populists would rise, yes, that was also predictable, but many fears that the elections would bring a total, I would say, turnover in the public life of the European Union, those fears appeared have been exaggerated. We are prepared to work with the European Parliament that has been elected and I hope that, sooner rather later, parliamentary co-operation between the European Parliament and the Russian Federal Assembly will resume."
W/S Press conference
SOT, Vladimir Chizhov, Russian Ambassador to European Union: "The [European] Commission itself actually outlined that it doesn't possess any specific evidence pointing to Russian interference in the European elections and I am not surprised it doesn't because there was no such thing. The rather vague reference to Russian sources [in their report] can have different meanings. Russian-language sources or sources that perhaps originated in Russia but were misused by, in other countries and so on. So this is not hard evidence."
M/S Russian flag outside embassy
C/U Embassy sign
W/S Russian Embassy in Brussels
SCRIPT
Russia would welcome reconciliation with the new European Parliament, according to the the Russian Ambassador to the European Union (EU) Vladimir Chizhov in statements made at a press conference from his embassy in Brussels on Monday.
"We are prepared to work with the European Parliament that has been elected and I hope that, sooner rather later, parliamentary co-operation between the European Parliament and the Russian Federal Assembly will resume," Chizhov said.
He also denied any Russian interference in May's European-wide elections, citing a Commission report which found no "specific evidence" of a campaign of disinformation.
"I am not surprised it doesn't because there was no such thing," the Russian diplomat told journalists.
Chizhov also said the decline of mainstream groupings like the European People's Party (EPP) and the Party of European Socialists (PES) "didn't come as a big surprise", while the rise of populist parties was "predictable".