The main part of the new Russia-EU partnership agreement is expected to be completed next year, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's aide, Sergei Prikhodko, said.
Several articles of the new agreement to replace the previous one that expired in 2007 are completed already, Prikhodko said at a press conference in Moscow. He was speaking ahead of the Russia-EU summit in Brussels slated for Tuesday.
"We are nearing the point where we will have to look for solutions to [some] issues that require a political approach," he said.
"For us, one of the most important issues is the definition of principles relating to the strategic partnership between Russia and the EU," he said.
He lauded the results of last month's Russia-NATO summit in Lisbon.
At the same time, Prikhodko said, the EU is "shirking from setting down the principle of a unified [pan-European] security".
"We don't quite understand that," he added.
Talks on a new agreement started in June 2008 but stalled after Russia fought off a Georgian attempt to reclaim the former republic of South Ossetia in August. They were resumed four months later. RIA Novosti
