Russia concerned about situation in eurozone

Russia is concerned about economic situation in the European Union, Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said on Friday. "Russia is closely following developments in the region and is seriously concerned about the economic situation with our European neighbors," Lukashevich said. "We are certainly interested in finding a systemic solution, which will allow avoidance of irreversible and possibly fatal consequences for the European common monetary union, in the eurozone and the European Union in general." He said Russia needed stability in the euro zone as the EU was the country's main trade partner, accounting for half of the country's trade turnover. Some 40 percent of Russian foreign exchange reserves are denominated in the euro, which remained a stable currency even despite current uncertainty in the region, Lukashevich added. Europe has been struggling to contain a debt crisis for almost two years with some EU member states having failed to produce effective solutions to solve their financial problems. Greece has been unable to meet an agreed budget deficit target and international lenders have threatened not to disburse it the next 8 billion euro tranche out of a 110 billion euro bailout.