In a joint press conference, President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, on Thursday expressed his concerns over the transparency of the recent Russian elections. “We are concerned about irregularities and lack of fairness”, Mr. Van Rompuy said.

For his part, EC President, Jose Manuel Barroso, highlighted the importance of the “Common steps visa-free travel” launch, which will lay down the path to achieve a visa-free travel regime between the EU and Russia.

President of Russia’s Federation, Dmitry Medvedev, said that Russia is willing to help Europe solve the current crisis. “Russia will continue reinforcing financial stability of the euro area, first and foremost, through the IMF”, Medvedev said. Russia’s president also commented on EU-Russia’s energy cooperation, stating that Russia’s “interests” will guide them in the north European gas pipeline developments.