Moscow is calling on the European Union to find a form of interaction with CIS states that will not force them to choose between Russia and EU.

Grigory Karasin, Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia, said the EU must seek a form of interaction that will not force CIS states to make an artificial, often a false choice, to be either with EU or Russia, RIA Novosti reported.

“Our neighborhood should be a space of fair and mutually beneficial cooperation without dividing lines, not a ground for geopolitical games around the so-called ‘focused states’,” Karasin said in a statement during the international conference.

Russia is attentively following the developments around Eastern Partnership project aimed at getting closer with Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Belarus and Ukraine.