MOSCOW, December 28. /TASS/. The Eastern Partnership initiative is the European Union’s attempt to draw post-Soviet countries closer to itself, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the European Union Vladimir Chizhov said on Tuesday.
"Naturally, our attitude to the Eastern Partnership is critical. We see it as a European Union’s attempt to draw some of the former Soviet republics closer to itself. But their participation in the Eastern Partnership gives them no guarantees of their membership in the European Union, this is clear," he told an online briefing.
The Russian diplomat recalled that when the initiative was set up in 2009, the European Union repeatedly said that this partnership was not aimed against Russia. "Let me recall that when the Eastern Partnership came into existence, it was in 2009, naturally, we asked questions and they told us it was not aimed against us or anyone else, that it was just the use of the European Union’s authority and possibilities to meet the needs of the target-group countries and, moreover, it would offer projects open to third countries, so, you are welcome to join if you like. We said: ‘Well, please share the list of such projects with us and we will see.’ And now that 12 years have elapsed since then, we haven’t heard about any," Chizhov stressed.
The Eastern Partnership is a joint initiative of the European Union and six Eastern European partners, namely Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine. Belarus suspended its participation in June 2021 following EU sanctions and the freezing of European cooperation programs.