Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We do, but being listened to is a different question. We do have to have a relationship with Russia, but we also have to be blunt and consistent in our message, and that message needs to be collective within the EU. It is no secret that Russia looks to develop bilateral relationships with individual EU member states. We need to ensure a collective approach from the EU towards developing a more constructive relationship with Russia on the basis of key principles that we have outlined and reaffirmed many times.

It is important to say that the Government will continue to promote constructive and open engagement with our Russian counterparts. That makes sense. I met with Foreign Minister Lavrov last week in New York, where we had a positive engagement on a series of issues related to the Security Council. Russia is a permanent member of the Security Council and we need to work with it on many issues. Most of the time we ended up talking about Afghanistan. The diplomacy and foreign policy challenge is to have relationships with states, even though you may fundamentally disagree with them on certain matters, to make things happen, particularly in a setting such as the Security Council.

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