The format of the EU's dialogue with Russia is unacceptable

This is a reaction to an interview with the head of EU diplomacy Josepa Borella On Die Welt, in which he rejected Russia’s proposals for security guarantees, describing them as “unacceptable” and warning that negotiations on them could not take place without the participation of the European Union.

“The form of Borrell’s allegations against us and the way Brussels has expressed its views over the years is very strange and in many cases unacceptable,” Zakharova said, adding that “now there is no point in making any allegations” against Moscow.

The Russian Foreign Ministry does not like the language Borrell uses. It was as if we were members of the European Union or NATO, and suddenly it turned out that we made a mistake, or did not have the right to submit the project for joint discussion, said Zakharova.

In her view, the speculation made by Borrell about the hypothetical contribution of the European Union to the discussion of security guarantees in Europe seems “very strange”.

Zakharov: Borrell should have forgotten about it

– The most important European diplomat had to forget that for the EU member states that are also members NATO – There are 21 of them – the alliance remains the basis of their collective defense and the platform for its implementation – Zakharova’s assessment. “In other words, Brussels, the European Union has given Brussels the lion’s share of NATO’s military sovereignty,” she added.

In her opinion, EU diplomats “in recent years have issued a number of statements resembling an ultimatum, without proposing or discussing any projects, but only unilaterally expressing their position.” As an example, she cited the Five Principles formulated by the former European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, for normalization of relations with Russia. There was, among other things, an assumption that Moscow should force the implementation of the Minsk agreements, although Kiev, according to Zakharova, continued to ignore them.