Borell Is Upset At His Non Participation In Talks, Forgetting EU Lost Sovereignty In Favor US

A statement by EU top diplomat Josep Borrell on Brussels’ possible contribution to negotiations on European security looks strange amid the policy pursued by the European Union, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a briefing on Thursday.

"I would like to stress once again that if the EU’s Brussels sincerely wanted and wished it, it could have done far more to prevent the developments in Europe under a scenario unacceptable for Russia.

Moreover, not only for Russia but generally for developing Russia-EU interaction. Nothing of this has been done," the spokeswoman said.

"Amid this background, the claim by Mr. Borrell on some hypothetical contribution by the EU to the discussion on security guarantees in Europe looks very strange," the diplomat stressed.

"Possibly, the EU diplomacy head has simply forgotten that for the EU countries - and 21 of them are NATO members - it is the alliance that now remains ‘the foundation of their collective defense and the forum for its implementation,’" Zakharova said

"Let me remind you where this direct quote comes from: this is article 42.7 of the baseline Treaty on the European Union. Moreover, in its two joint declarations signed with the alliance since 2016, the EU even agreed to use its defense potential, as was set forth there, in the interests of NATO," the Russian diplomat added.

In other words, the EU’s Brussels voluntarily assigned the lion’s share of its military sovereignty to NATO’s Brussels, Zakharova said.

"This was done not only in favor of NATO, and I mean sacrificing its own sovereignty, but such a gift was also made directly for the United States. In this regard, it is unclear why the EU diplomacy head feels upset about the EU’s non-participation in the discussions on security guarantees in Europe. You have voluntarily agreed to the loss of sovereignty in favor of decision-making either by the United States solely or under the NATO umbrella but by the United States again," the Russian diplomat said.

The spokeswoman also pointed to another remark by the EU diplomacy head who stated that advancing non-negotiable written terms to the opposite side was a winner’s privilege.

"It looks as if the European Union has never tried to impose its approaches on Russia with its actions from such ultimatum-like and haughty positions. Honestly speaking, I am not sure that this can relate to a winner or to the logic of the winner’s actions but surely this relates to haughtiness and I mean the steps that Brussels earlier made," the Russian diplomat said.

Brussels has done a lot to escalate tension in Europe with its actions, the spokeswoman said. In particular, in 2009 it invented the Eastern Partnership format aimed at countering Russian integration initiatives and carving out a sphere of influence for itself in the post-Soviet space. Also, the EU persistently pushed for a draft of an association agreement with Ukraine, she pointed out.

"Let me remind you that it became a real trigger for protests that grew into an anti-Constitutional coup in February 2014, again with the blessing of the West, first of all, representatives of the European Union and the United States, and which progressed somewhere with the tacit and somewhere with the active consent and support of Western partners," Zakharova said.

Also, Brussels unilaterally curtailed the versatile architecture of cooperation and dialogue with Russia that had been developed for years, and slapped Russia with illegitimate unilateral restrictions, the Russian diplomat went on to say.

"To the accompaniment of groundless accusations, it highlighted our country in its doctrinal guidelines as a strategic challenge and almost the prime source of some hybrid threats to the security of the European Union," the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said.