The EU’s policy towards Russia is not helping to bolster relations and is merely a manifestation of ?political Kama Sutra?, Moscow’s top diplomat has claimed as tensions flare on the continent.
Speaking as part of an interview with a prominent Russian talk-show host on Monday, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the bloc’s strategy is a combination of three principles: distance, pressure, and dialogue on issues of interest to Brussels.
According to the veteran official, the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, “said he wanted a new policy toward Russia and that it would be constructive after all.”
“There were such strong attacks on him after his visit to Moscow just because we explained what we thought about [Alexey] Navalny and everything else, and about the role of Germany and Europe in general in fanning these lies, and the inability to present any facts and answer elementary questions,” Lavrov said.
He recalled that the EU’s former high representative for foreign affairs, Federica Mogherini, had invented five core areas for relations with Russia, with one of the main principles focusing on normalization as long as Moscow complies with the Minsk agreements on Donbass. According to him, anyone who has read the protocols “will understand that this is political schizophrenia.”
Moscow’s foreign minister slammed Brussels’ “choreography” of the “push-back, constraint and engage” strategy, stating that it was “political Kama sutra.”
The broadside from Lavrov comes after the European Parliament said in a resolution that Moscow runs the risk of being completely shut out of the major global payment system SWIFT if Russian troops launch an invasion of Ukraine. In the text, Brussels said the bloc must be ready to send “a very stark warning that military hostilities will not only be unacceptable, but also come at a high economic and political price.”
In June, the European Commission and Borrell prepared a report on relations with Moscow. He said that “under present circumstances, a renewed partnership between the European Union and Russia, allowing for closer cooperation, seems a distant prospect. Our ambition should be to explore paths that could help change the current dynamics gradually into a more predictable and stable relationship.”
According to the handout, the EU “will continue to push back against human rights violations and will speak up for democratic values,” as well as Moscow’s alleged breaches of international law in Ukraine, Georgia, and elsewhere. While Brussels will attempt to constrain Russia’s attempts to undermine the bloc’s interests, it will attempt to engage with the world’s largest country on key issues, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change, and counterterrorism.
Earlier this year, the EU put forward a draft report demanding that the bloc take a more confrontational approach to Moscow. The paper said Brussels should “convey the potential benefits that it is willing to offer in return for a democratic transformation” of the country, and also suggested targeting “propaganda” with the establishment of a “Free Russia Television with 24/7 airtime.”
(RT.com)
