MOSCOW. April 28 (Interfax) - Moscow hopes the European Commission will secure the necessary mandate to begin negotiations on a new partnership and cooperation agreement as soon as possible, but it does not rule out another delay, Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's European Cooperation Department Sergei Ryabkov said.

"It remains unclear whether the European Commission will be authorized to hold the negotiations. There are many signs that major impediments have been removed and the majority of EU members support the authorization. However, new circumstances may appear and the EU Council may again fail to grant it," he said.

The EU foreign ministers are holding a meeting in Luxembourg on April 28-29.

"We think the second option [new circumstances] is quite possible although we naturally hope to start the negotiations, which have been blocked for 18 months because of the notorious position of the previous Polish government," Ryabkov said.

Asked what Russia would do in case of another delay, he said, "We are not dramatizing this situation. The EU has as much time as it wants to understand the need for negotiations. We won't tell them to hurry up."