"The time of a frontal crisis between Russia and the EU is running out," he said.
According to Pushkov, there is a feeling that Europe believes that a military scenario can’t be implemented to solve the Ukrainian crisis, only a political one.
"Let's hope that in 2015 we will have some changes in a direction towards an improvement in relations between Russia and the EU," he said.
Moscow’s confrontation with the EU started after Russia annexed the Ukrainian territory of Crimea in March last year, after first invading the peninsula with its troops. Moscow then began to destabilize the situation in the Donbas with the direct participation of Russian special forces and the support of Russian army, according to Ukraine.
According to a growing body of evidence, Russia also supplies weapons to the militants in eastern Ukraine, and sends its mercenaries and regular troops to the Donbas to Ukraine.
During the occupation of Crimea, the Russian authorities denied that Russian troops had invaded the peninsula, but later Russian President Vladimir Putin publicly acknowledged that they had.
