Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is right, the EU unilaterally destroyed all mechanisms of cooperation with Russia, German political scientist Alexander Rahr told RIA Novosti.
Moscow has no relations with the European Union as an organization, they were destroyed by Brussels, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier. According to the minister, Europe “broke off these relations, simply destroying all the mechanisms that had been created for many years, and we have only partners from individual European countries that want to be guided by their national interests”. All this, according to Lavrov, objectively leads to the fact that Russia’s relations with China “are developing faster than what is left of relations with European countries”.
“Lavrov is right, indeed, the EU unilaterally destroyed all mechanisms of cooperation with Russia. It’s true. The Partnership and Cooperation Agreement was blocked by the Poles and Lithuanians back in the 2000s. Germany unilaterally in 2012, even before the events in Ukraine, abandoned partnerships for modernization, motivated by Russia’s rejection of the principles of liberal democracy. The third mechanism that was destroyed is the EU-Russia summits. The last summit was held in 2013. The Europeans demonstrate that they are not interested in cooperation with Russia”, – Rahr said.
According to the political scientist, at the same time, the EU traditionally subjects Russia to powerful criticism and is “very offended” if Moscow maintains bilateral relations with individual countries of the community. This is related, for example, to the “colossal pressure on Russian gas producers in Europe, these are demonstrative actions”, – Rahr said.
“Over the past 10-15 years, only destructive processes have been going on in relations between the EU and Russia, there is almost no creation. Many European countries are ready to cooperate with Russia unilaterally. But Brussels is not. But Brussels also depends on consensus among its members, and there is individual states that are holding back relations with Russia and are trying to push it out of Europe to Asia. These are Poland, the Baltic states, of course, with the support of the United States”, – Rahr said, adding that this is no longer about trends, but about unspoken EU policy.
New sanctions against Russia, trade wars “play into the hands, first of all, of the Americans”, who are interested in the supply of goods to Europe and “the inclusion of the EU in its own policy of containing the Russian Federation”, Rahr said. Against this background, European business “is trying with all its might to maintain ties with Russia”, he added.