British Foreign Secretary David Miliband described the Russian leadership change as "an important moment for the European relations with Russia," adding the bilateral relations should be based on equal footing.

In a positive signal, EU foreign ministers on Friday nearly agreed to break the two-year deadlock in launching negotiations for a new partnership agreement.

The new agreement will cover wide-ranging issues from trade to energy, human rights and political cooperation, setting basis for the future EU-Russia relations.

However, the start of the negotiations was effectively blocked by Poland and Lithuania since 2006 because Russia imposed a two-year ban on Polish meat supplies and cut off oil supplies to a Lithuanian refinery which was sold to a Polish company rather than a Russian rival.

Though differences remain, Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, whose country holds the EU presidency, sounded optimistic.

"We all endorse the idea of a negotiating mandate to be finalized and adopted as soon as possible. We hope this will be possible in April, so we can start with negotiations under the Slovenian presidency," which expires in June, he said after consulting with his EU colleagues.

However, Ferrero-Waldner said that the EU countries should act coherently in dealing with Russia in order to pursue their overall interests, especially when negotiating with Russia on the new partnership agreement.

"I think this agreement is the way we can best use our collective negotiating leverage to pursue outcomes that serve our interests," she said.