Lavrov made the remarks during his address to the organizers and participants of the 9th Europe-Russia Forum at the European Parliament in Brussels.
"Relations between Russia and the European Union are going through hard times. At the same time, we are convinced that we will be able to scrap this negative trend and return to the path of multi-faceted partnership," Lavrov said.
Relations between Russia and the West deteriorated in 2014 due to the situation in Ukraine.
In July 2014, the EU and the United States slapped an array of sanctions on whole sectors of the Russian economy, in addition to restrictions they had introduced against separate Russian individuals and companies.
Russia responded to Western sanctions by restricting the import of food from states that had imposed sanctions against Moscow, including the US, EU members, Canada, Australia and Norway.
The food ban applies to beef, pork, poultry, sausages, fish, vegetables, fruit, dairy products and some other foodstuffs.
