DISINFO: Belarus, Azerbaijan and Armenia are the group of "second-class" countries of the Eastern Partnership
SUMMARY
Many EU countries are unable to give up the arrogant habit of talking to others from a position of strength. Even the Eastern Partnership members are categorised. Belarus, along with Azerbaijan and Armenia, belongs to the group of “second-class” countries, cooperation with which may actually be frozen.
RESPONSE
A recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the Eastern Partnership.
The Eastern Partnership (EaP) is a joint policy initiative which aims to deepen and strengthen relations between the European Union (EU), its Member States and its six Eastern neighbours: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. There are no first or second grade countries in EaP.
The Eastern Partnership is a mutually beneficial and constructive platform for countries in the region to build a closer relationship with the EU if they choose to do so. The EU does not demand that any of its partners chose between the EU or any other country. Within this framework, guiding the EU's relations with its neighbours is the EU’s Global Strategy and the European Neighbourhood Policy, which calls for the need to focus on increasing the stabilisation and resilience of the EU's Eastern neighbours. The Eastern Partnership stands for good neighbourly relations and respects the individual aspirations and ambitions of each partner country.
See similar disinformation cases that the aim of the Eastern Partnership is to separate Russia’s from its neighbours, that the Eastern Partnership and the Three Seas Initiative are anti-Russian, that the Eastern Partnership is an instrument of energy colonialism, or that the Eastern Partnership is about external control and disintegration.
Read more on the most repeated myths about the Eastern Partnership initiative here.