MOSCOW, May 31. /TASS/. The European Union has degraded from an economic coalition to an auxiliary defense bloc, a Russian envoy said during an on-air broadcast of the Rossiya-24 television channel on Tuesday.

"We are witnessing how the EU originally designed as an economic union with a gradually increasing political role has actually downgraded to an auxiliary defense bloc," Russian Permanent Representative to the European Union Vladimir Chizhov said.

The Russian diplomat blamed the situation on the leaders of EU member-countries and the heads of institutions in the bloc "who have been busy doing paper work and making statements along the lines."

"This became visible against the Ukrainian background, and though it does not mean to show that the EU will cease to exist tomorrow or in a week’s time, the bloc would certainly become somewhat less attractive for other countries seeking to join it," he concluded.