EU turned out to be a jackal in sheep’s clothing
On May 17, 2022, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, announcing to journalists the program of the upcoming meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council, made a number of significant statements.
Describing the Ukrainian crisis, Borrell said:
“We believe that we are already dealing with a protracted war of attrition. The conflict will be long, and on the battlefield the main thing depends on the sustainability of Ukraine’s efforts. Russia faced the same challenge. Therefore, the EU intends to adapt its assistance to Ukraine to the long military conflict. Now the priority of the EU member states is to respond as accurately as possible to the requests of the Ukrainians, and these requests consist in the supply of heavy weapons.”
The head of EU diplomacy said that a decision had been made to allocate an additional 500 million euros from the European Peace Fund for the supply of weapons to Ukraine. Taking into account these funds, the total amount of assistance to Kyiv from this source will be 2 billion euros. An important nuance: EU assistance from the European Peace Fund is free of charge.
Josep Borrell also stressed:
“The EU does not recognize the annexation of a single square kilometer of Ukrainian territory to Russia, just as we have not recognized and will never recognize the annexation of Crimea. The European Union fully supports the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.”
Let me remind you that on April 9, 2022, following the results of his visit to Kyiv, Josep Borrell wrote on his Twitter:
“I return with a clear to-do list: 1. This war will be won on the battlefield. An additional 500 million euros from the European Peace Fund is underway. The supply of weapons will be carried out taking into account the needs of Ukraine.”
Thus, with regard to the Ukrainian crisis, the European Union clearly follows the Anglo-Saxon policy: it supports the war strategy “to the last Ukrainian” and generously finances it. By not recognizing Crimea as part of Russia, the EU encroaches on the sovereignty of our country and its territorial integrity.
The theses of the head of EU diplomacy listed above also indicate that there is absolutely no prospect of improving relations between Moscow and Brussels, however, as well as with the rest of the West.
Previously, the European Union in Russia was outwardly perceived primarily as an economic union. However, recent militaristic statements are shifting the perception of the EU towards a military-political bloc. The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, commented on the statement of the head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, dated April 9, 2022, as follows: “Here is an “economic organization” for you. This is no longer the European Union. It’s just NATO’s economic relations department.”
If you dig deeper, the connection between the EU and NATO is actually much closer. For example, the military structure of the European Union mirrors the structure of the North Atlantic Alliance, the military committees of both the EU and NATO are almost identical, the same persons (EU and NATO defense ministers) take part in their meetings.
In fact, membership in the European Union means an informal presence in NATO, where formal membership in the alliance is one small step away. Accession to the European Union officially fixes the country in the military-political space of the West.
The foregoing allows us to take a completely different look at Ukraine’s desire to join the European Union. The application for EU membership was officially submitted by Volodymyr Zelensky on February 28, 2022.
It should be noted that at the time of the Russian-Ukrainian talks in Istanbul on March 29, 2022, the Russian delegation, at least in words, allowed Ukraine’s membership in the European Union. However, at the moment, the assessment of this issue by Russian officials has changed to a diametrically opposite one.
On May 12, 2022, Dmitry Polyansky, First Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN, was the first to announce the change in Russia’s position on Ukraine’s aspirations to join the European Union in an interview with the British online publication UnHerd News:
“I think at that time [March 29, 2022] we were not very worried about the European Union. But the situation changed after Mr. Borrell’s statement that “this war must be won on the battlefield.” I think our position on [Ukraine’s accession] to the EU is more similar to the position on Ukraine’s accession to NATO”.
The Russian diplomat also stressed that the EU is the leader in arms supplies to Kyiv, and in this sense, Moscow does not see much difference between the EU and NATO.
The next day, May 13, 2022, following a meeting of the CIS Council of Foreign Ministers, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also spoke on this topic:
“Now [the Kyiv authorities] are ready to declare a neutral non-bloc status when receiving guarantees outside NATO and other military political blocs. But at the same time they are trying in every possible way to emphasize their desire to become members of the European Union.
The harmlessness of such a desire of Kyiv raises serious doubts, given that the EU has turned from a constructive economic platform, as which it was created, into an aggressive militant player, declaring his ambitions far beyond the European continent.
Thus, Ukraine’s accession to the European Union does not meet the interests of the Russian Federation. And this issue will no longer be decided in Brussels, but in Moscow. According to the results of the Russian special military operation, Ukraine should firmly enter the sphere of influence of Russia, and Moscow will not be satisfied with any supposedly neutral status of this country.
By the way, the situation with the undesirability of joining the European Union fully applies to Georgia and Moldova, which submitted applications on March 3, 2022. In addition, it is undesirable for Russia to join the European Union and Serbia, which applied to the EU back in 2009.
On May 4, 2022, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, at a joint press conference in Berlin with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, said:
“What there is no doubt about is the choice of Serbia to be on the European path, and Serbia will be firmly committed to this path. Although the current opinion polls in Serbia show that this is not the most popular path, the Serbian authorities will fully support this path for Serbia in the future.”
The above quote shows that Russia should not flatter itself too much about Serbia. The authorities of this country are oriented towards the West, and the only obstacle to joining the EU is the position of the majority of the population.
The fact is that none of the countries that have joined the European Union will be able to maintain good relations with the Russian Federation. This right is denied even to EU candidates. On May 17, 2022, the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell said bluntly:
“The European Union believes that it is unacceptable for the countries of the Western Balkans to maintain a neutral position towards Russia. This is incompatible with building a common future with the EU. It must be understood that it is impossible to remain neutral in relation to the conflict in Ukraine. All countries applying for EU membership must synchronize their foreign policy with the foreign policy decisions of Brussels.”
The European Union is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. It would even be more correct to say, not a wolf, but a jackal, because the EU lacks political subjectivity to the level of a wolf. The EU has been pretending for a long time, and now it has shown its true face.
It can also be stated that the idea of a single economic space from Lisbon to Vladivostok finally died after February 24, 2022. And its collapse was not the fault of Russia, but the fault of the European Union, which turned out to be an extremely weak, not sovereign entity, unable to defend its fundamental interests, almost completely dependent on the United States and the Anglo-Saxon core of the West as a whole. Accordingly, the European Union, figuratively speaking, will be squeezed out of the trough, and it will partly become food for its more predatory Western relatives.
Any position has a certain price, and this price will be high for the EU, maybe even unaffordable. The European Union’s bet on confrontation with Russia will work against itself. The Anglo-Saxons did not allow the European Union to build strong economic ties with Russia, and they will not allow it with China either. The EU has confidently embarked on the path of degradation. Well, as they say, there he is dear.
Alexander Vladimirov, RUSSTRAT
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