Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko: Russia’s relations with European countries are currently in a state of deep crisis

Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko
Photo: TASS

The European Union is preparing for a direct military confrontation with Russia, Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said.

"The core of the military policy pursued by NATO countries and the European Union, which has subordinated itself to the alliance, is to prepare the economy, infrastructure, logistics, society, and military for a direct armed conflict with Russia," Grushko stated at a meeting of the Expert Council of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, which discussed the prospects for changes in the political situation between Russia and the EU, TASS quotes.

According to the senior diplomat, Russia’s relations with European countries are currently in a state of deep crisis. "By demonizing Russia, they are promoting the idea that a military conflict is inevitable unless Moscow is stopped, suffering a strategic defeat," Grushko said.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister said that the stance of European countries prevents them from making any contribution to the peace process in Ukraine.

"The policy course being pursued by the EU effectively blocks peace in Ukraine," the senior Russian diplomat stressed. "If we look at the real positions voiced by European leaders, it is clear that not a single European country, all of which have effectively declared a war on Russia, can offer any contribution to [resolving] the Ukraine conflict," Grushko argued. While EU countries claim to be "dreaming of restoring peace, their actual approach makes such peace unattainable," he added.

Grushko also dismissed the EU’s stance as mere rhetoric. "It has obstructed progress at every stage of the conflict and likewise rules out any European role at the negotiating table, despite Brussels’ repeated assertions to the contrary," the diplomat concluded.

Russia is spending more on defense and increasing its military power in response to the West’s aggressive policy against Moscow, and no one can convince it that that’s a bad idea, Alexander Grushko told reporters.

Commenting on the recent criticism from EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, who views Russia's defense spending as a threat to the EU, the senior diplomat stated: "She can say whatever she wants. No one can limit our military budget." "The logic [of the West] is that the more they deprive us of oil and gas revenues, the fewer opportunities we will have to produce weapons and strengthen our military power," the deputy minister said.

However, as Western policy on military matters tightens, Russia "is only becoming more powerful," Grushko pointed out. "We are introducing new weapons systems. And, unlike the West, we feel confident in this regard," the Russian deputy foreign minister added.

Moscow is working on tit-for-tat measures in response to the ban of the European Union on the issue of multi-entry visas to Russians, Alexander Grushko said.

"Embassies of the European Union stopped issuing multi-entry visas for probably about a week, although they continue calls," the diplomat said. The decision on the notification regime for Russian diplomats in accredited EU countries will come into force on January 25 of the next year, Grushko noted.

"It is not yet clear how it will be administered, how it will actually function but nevertheless already now, naturally, we are working on our tit-for-tat measures. This is because the entire system of diplomatic, political ties is known to be based, among other things, on the principle of equal rights. The same applies to tourists as well. We consider it as the general hostile policy pursued by EU countries," he stressed.

These measures showed "huge hypocrisy" of Brussels, the deputy minister said. "While initially they introduced sanctions and said that the sanctions is a tool of punishment, this is not against Russian people, then these 19 packages are actually an attempt to collectively punish all the Russians. They reached an effect that is reverse to the anticipated one - the consolidation of the Russian society and understanding that our cause is just," Grushko added.

The legitimacy of the signatory of peace agreements on the Ukrainian side is important to Moscow, Alexander Grushko said, adding that this person should not be questioned.

"Of course, we attach great importance to the fact that [from Ukraine] there will be a party whose legitimacy will not be questioned, or it will not be vulnerable to undermining the legal nature of those agreements," he told reporters.

In this regard, Grushko emphasized that the issues related to the signing of peace agreements must be "guaranteed not only by the legal force and nature of those agreements, but they must also exclude any possibility that domestic political uprisings could nullify them."

NATO and the EU are whipping up tensions in the Baltic region, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister said.

"We see that NATO and EU countries are pursuing a policy of maximum tension in the Baltic region," he said at a meeting of the expert council of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs entitled "Russia-EU: the likelihood of a change in the political situation." "The Baltic Sea, once the most peaceful region in Europe, with various regional associations dedicated to fostering cooperation, numerous bilateral visa-free regimes, and free movement across borders, has now become a zone of confrontation. NATO and EU countries openly say that the Baltic Sea should become an internal NATO sea," the senior diplomat noted.

"We are also seeing increased efforts by Western countries in Central Asia and the South Caucasus. The goal is clear. No matter how well-intentioned this policy may sound, in reality, it aims to sever the historical ties between Russia and the states of the South Caucasus and Central Asia and weaken the CSTO and the EAEU as much as possible," Grushko pointed out.

Russia does not see any role for Europe at the negotiating table on Ukraine, Alexander Grushko told reporters.

"I do not see [any role for the bloc in negotiating peace]," Grushko said, referencing Europe’s recent mediation track record.

"Let’s recall the history. What preceded the coup in Ukraine? It was the signing of an agreement between Viktor Yanukovych and the so-called opposition, which provided for a transition period, the creation of a government of trust, and early elections to the Verkhovna Rada and the presidency. Who guaranteed these agreements? Poland, Germany, and France, represented by their foreign ministers," Grushko said.

"What did they say after the bloody coup? The situation has changed; we are now living in a new reality. But no one in Berlin, Warsaw, or Paris spoke up in defense of these agreements," he continued.

"The second point is the Minsk agreements. France and Germany were the main guarantors of the Minsk accords. <…> But the EU did everything it could to prevent the implementation of the settlement provisions. It didn’t just hinder their implementation; it actively sought to prevent it," Grushko added.

According to him, the EU did nothing to stop Pyotr Poroshenko’s military operation in Donbass and, on the contrary, encouraged "the continuation of the civil war unleashed by the Nazi regime." "Bearing all this in mind, it is very hard to see Europe as having a legitimate place at the negotiating table," Grushko said.

The European Union's leadership is deliberately pursuing policies that hinder a peaceful resolution in Ukraine, Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told reporters.

"Today we clearly see that the European elites, and primarily the EU leadership, are pushing the continent down a destructive path. Their approach to key issues, including the Ukrainian conflict, reveals a clear course toward militarization," Grushko said. "Despite their professed peaceful rhetoric, their actions and foreign-policy steps consistently work to obstruct any possibility for a peaceful settlement." He noted that a growing number of political forces and leaders are speaking out, recognizing that the EU leadership’s path is self-destructive and dangerous for Europe itself.

"In countries such as Hungary and Slovakia, these forces are already translating their power into tangible policies. We understand that the leaders of Slovakia and Hungary are not pro-Russian politicians, as EU political elites often try to portray them, but rather figures who genuinely consider national interests and acknowledge that these interests cannot be advanced through abnormal relations with Russia, their immediate neighbor," the senior diplomat emphasized. "Such understanding will undoubtedly grow in Europe, and this opens the door for finding new common ground once our objectives within the special military operation are fulfilled by military or political means."

Grushko stressed that a return to previous relations with the EU is impossible. "The president and foreign minister have made this clear. Nevertheless, should any reasonable proposals be put forward to us, we will of course examine them," he said. "Given that European and Euro-Atlantic security concepts have been discredited by Western actions that eroded the foundations of rational coexistence on the European continent, our current policy is to concentrate on a new security framework. This is the Greater Eurasian space. Here, we see considerable potential, not only in implementing our own proposals and those of our Belarusian colleagues but also in inviting all European leaders who acknowledge the advantages of extensive, equality-based cooperation rooted in respect for national interests and the principle of non-interference in internal affairs.".

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