"The agreement allows the agreement to be prolonged automatically," Vladimir Chizhov said Tuesday. "However, this is not what we are after."
Chizhov said the agreement had become outdated.
"The agreement was signed in June 1994, while Russia and the EU have changed since that time," the ambassador said.
He said Russia would become a full member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) by 2007, whereas about one-third of the agreement's content consisted of issues subject to the WTO charter.
"The economic section of the agreement will thereby become irrelevant," Chizhov said. "Besides, even the brightest men in those days could not foresee a new sphere of cooperation with Russia, for example, security and defense, and such projects had not even been in the pipeline at the time," he said.
Chizhov said it was time for expert discussions on a new cooperation agreement between Russia and the EU.
