Just a few days ahead of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics and with the Ukrainian crises in the background, the 32nd EU-Russia Summit took place on the 28th of January in Brussels.

The Summits are scheduled to take place twice a year, in Russia over the summer and Brussels in December. However, a change in plans took place last year and this particular Summit was postponed to January.

A change in dates was not the only irregularity that concerned the most recent summit. Its duration, which is usually of two days, was shortened to two hours of discussion on Tuesday.

The meetings, which were attended by Herman Van Rompuy, José Manuel Barroso and other EU representatives, were scheduled to review the strategic partnership and co-operation agreement established in 1994. This partnership has defined EU-Russia relations since the year of its creation, and although the agreement expired in 2007, it has been rolled over every year. Some refer to this as a sign of the long road there is yet to pave in EU-Russia relations.

While both parties attempted to avoid letting Ukraine be at the center of the discussion, they eventually ended up mentioning the country's crisis and its role in EU-Russia economic relations.

Russian President Vladimir Putin urged EU representatives to halt their involvement in the country's conflict, arguing that the greater the number of parties involved, the more difficult it is to find viable peaceful solutions to the issues at hand. He also expressed his discontent regarding existing European activities in Ukraine, asking the European representatives to imagine their reaction to a comparable situation in which Russian officials were to support anti-EU protests in a Member State.

Regarding Russia's deal to Ukraine, in which they offered the country a generous loan and access to cheap gas prices, the Russian leader assured attendees that their offer and support will remain valid and unchanged. Putin stated that the deal was meant to aid the people, who are the ones who suffer the most, not the Ukrainian government itself. Because of this reason, the offer will remain as it is. This is regardless of the new government, their only condition being certainty that they will get their money back.

Another matter in which Ukraine is inevitably involved is the EU-Russia economic relation. Russia has asked Ukraine to join its "Eurasian Customs Union" a free-trade type agreement that would prevent Ukraine from being able to set trade tariffs by itself. This would make Ukraine unable to even contemplate a trade agreement with the European Union. On the other hand, Russia fears that the signing of a trade agreement between the EU and Ukraine would lead to the introduction of European products to Russia in an unwanted manner.

Another issue discussed by both countries involved the EU’s Eastern Partnership, an initiative inaugurated in 2009 that facilitates relationships between the EU and former Soviet States. Russia sees this agreement as a threat to its relationship with these same states, especially in issues concerning trade policy.

While there was no concrete agreement or solution to this problem after the Summit, EU representatives pledged to hold more meetings between EU and Russian officials to discuss the Ukrainian deal and avoid “different interpretations and misunderstandings on the association agreements”. The EU has already met with representatives from other countries that are parties to this initiative and established agreements similar to the one proposed to Ukraine.

Perhaps the biggest accomplishment of this past week's Summit was a joint agreement to fight terrorism. The timing of this agreement is of crucial importance to Russia given its proximity to Muslim States and the recent increase of terrorist threats.

Throughout the duration of the talks, Russian leader Vladimir Putin expressed his desire to work on EU-Russia partnership´s weaknesses and develop stronger economic, political, and social ties among both regions to stretch from "Lisbon to Vladivostok".

Many are of the opinion that this last Summit lacked ambition and concrete results due to the upcoming Olympics in Russia and the cautious handling of discussions pertaining Ukraine. Both regions, however, agreed to engage in bilateral consultations concerning the Eastern Partnership and gladly commented on the “frankness and openness” of the discussions. The next Summit will take place in Russia’s Sochi on the 3rd of June of this year.

David Casa is a Nationalist MEP and PN candidate for EP elections