The Russian Federation and the European Union are major partners in a number of key spheres, including the economy, energy, and internal and external aspects of security. Amidst increased bilateral trade and investments, EU-Russia relations have been turbulent, with bouts of misperceptions and mistrust. Tensions to this relationship, such as result of negotiations between EU and Ukraine at the end of 2013 had made an impact. Addressing this, and issues such as EU’s energy policy and the Commission’s probe into Gazprom, Ambassador Vladimir Chizhov remained positive that relations between EU and Russia ahead of the EU-Russia Summit on 27-28 January 2014.