Opening the conference, President Neyts commented that Europe needs to actively engage with Russia and vice-versa and not to limit our relationship to energy alone. "For mutual understanding and shared interests to develop between people in the EU and Russia it is essential for there to be more interaction between ordinary citizens in member states and Russia, whether this is for work, social, academic or tourism purposes". President Neyts re-iterated her support for a visa-free regime between the EU and Russia as a goal to work towards. To watch President Neyts' speech in full click here.

Mikhail Kasyanov, Leader of the People's Democratic Union, referring to the reforms that need to be taken in Russia, observed that while Russia made initial progress towards joining the World Trade Organisation (WTO) this process has stalled and the Russian Government needs to clearly say what it wants from WTO membership, as well as creating an atmosphere of predictability regarding Russia's energy relationship with the EU.

In the discussion "misunderstanding or the values gap?", Evgeny Yasin, economist and former Russian Minister for the Economy, referred to a poll in 2008 that showed 48% of Russians are in favour of liberal values. Mr Yasin noted that Russians want to be better off, but they can only be richer if they are freer, with this freedom being the key not only to economic but also social advancement. The task is to achieve true democracy, "because people don't have freedom and democracy (in Russia), they don't know how to defend it".

Speaking about common security issues between the EU and Russia, Kristiina Ojuland MEP, highlighted the many topics that require joint actions by the two partners, including the conflict in Afghanistan, handling the situation with Iran, and wider measures to combat international crime and terrorism. Mrs Ojuland welcomed the spirit with which Russia is entering into these different foreign and security policy areas and noted the need for it to be extended to all aspects of EU-Russia dialogue, including human rights and the rule of law, economic growth and stability and climate change. 

Following the conference, The ELDR delegation met with the leadership of ELDR's long standing member party in Russia, Yabloko, where an exchange of views was held on the issue of how the EU and the Eastern Partnership countries and Russia could develop a more common strategic approach to their work on topics, such as the economy, environment and the broader issue of democratic development.

View pictures from the ELDR visit to Moscow in the online photo gallery.

To read an article by Mikhail Kasyanov, recently published in ELDR's newspaper, "Russia-EU: Reset or partnership" click here