DISINFO: The EU is doing everything to make Russia move away from it
SUMMARY
In Poland, everyone agrees with the statements that the disastrous relations of Poland and the EU with Russia are a “result of the Russian policies in recent years” and that “Russia is consistently moving away from its Western partners”. These claims are pure lies. First of all, not everyone in Europe thinks this way, including the leaders of the EU countries. Secondly, the Russian Federation cannot succumb to irrational demands of the EU member states, which cannot come to an agreement even between themselves. After all, the EU is not such a strong political and social organism as the Russian Federation. It is not Russia moving away from the EU, but the EU doing everything to make Russia avoid it.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative attempting to put responsibility for the state of EU-Russian relations on Brussels, alleging that the EU is destroying them while ignoring the reasons behind the sanctions.
The EU has imposed restrictive measures since 2014, including sectoral sanctions, as a result of the illegal annexation of Crimea and Russia's destabilising actions in eastern Ukraine. Formats such as regular high-level dialogues remain suspended in the absence of the full implementation of the Minsk agreements by Russia. These events have seriously affected bilateral relations.
The EU has also strongly condemned the assassination attempt using chemical weapons on Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny in 2020 and sanctioned 6 individuals and 1 entity as a result. There is unequivocal evidence that Navalny was poisoned using a Novichok-type nerve agent.
However, Russia remains a natural partner for the EU and a strategic player combating the regional and global challenges. The EU’s approach to Russia is guided by five principles agreed in 2016 and reaffirmed, most recently, by EU Foreign Ministers in October 2020.
On behalf of the European Union, the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission (HR/VP), Josep Borrell travelled to Moscow in February 2021 with the intention of pursuing a dialogue on core issues in the relations between the European Union and Russia.
The Kremlin answered the European Union’s invitation to dialogue with a shameless attempt to deflect attention from its violations of Russia’s international obligations and own laws. However, the EU will continue to engage with Russia when it is in the interest of the EU.
Read more about the EU-Russia relations here.
See similar cases such as Russia-EU relations were destroyed by unilateral decisions of Brussels, The EU destroyed relations with Russia and Poland and the EU appear on the verge of breaking relations with Russia.