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Kremlin explains why Ukraine’s EU bid is not related to strategic security

The European Union is not a military-political bloc, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov pointed out

MOSCOW, March 1. /TASS/. The prospects of Ukraine’s admission to the European Union should be viewed separately from the issues of strategic stability, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday, responding to a question about how Kiev’s EU bid was consistent with Moscow’s demands of Ukraine’s neutral status.

"The European Union is not a military-political bloc. In this regard, as far as strategic stability is concerned, this issue is of a different nature. The aspiration for EU membership is sealed in the Ukrainian Constitution in writing. Perhaps, this process should be viewed separately," the Russian presidential spokesman noted.

It was reported on February 28 that Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky signed a bid for admitting Ukraine to the EU "under an accelerated procedure." The leaders of Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Estonia backed fast-tracking Ukraine’s admission into the EU and outlined their stance in an open letter uploaded to the website of the Polish leader.

Russia’s Permanent Representative at the EU Vladimir Chizhov told TASS that no accelerated admission procedure existed in the EU and, on the contrary, the procedure of integrating new states was additionally fine-tuned to become more complex and lengthier in time after the recent waves of the EU’s expansion.