MOSCOW, November 4. /TASS/. The European Union is a ‘relatively viable organism,’ but the upcoming winter will become a serious test for its residents, a prominent Russian senator told the Rossiya-24 television on Thursday.

"It would be premature to say that the EU is hopeless. It is a relatively viable organism, and this is confirmed by the fact that the number of countries seeking to join it is larger than of those willing to quit," said Vladimir Chizhov, Russia’s former permanent representative to the European Union and current first deputy chair of the Federation Council’s Defense and Security Committee.

"The European Union can cope with it. We’ll see for how long the current crisis would continue. Winter is about to begin, and has already begun in certain European regions, and it will be a serious test for EU citizens," he added.

In the senator’s opinion, the current situation in the European Union can be described as an "ideal storm."

"There is an energy crisis that emerged mostly as a result of a series of systemic errors committed by the EU leadership. Secondly, there is also a financial crisis caused by the volatility of the EU’s common currency, the euro. There is also a food crisis, triggered by a wide range of factors, including the factor of weather, with an incredibly hot summer and drought in the majority of Western European countries, and it is exacerbated by the disruption of logistical [supply] chains," Chizhov said.

According to the Russian senator, many problems of the EU are caused by the fact that decisions made by the bureaucratic EU leadership are far from real interests of the population and in some cases even go against national interests of some states.

He said the European Union’s strategy to gradually scale down purchases of Russian fuel was motivated by purely political reasons. In his words, the EU has never thought of how much its prosperity and economic development depended on successful cooperation with the Soviet Union in the past, and with Russia at the moment.

"Our fuel was [supplied] at stable prices that traditionally were lower than the market price. I’m referring to gas, oil, coal and even nuclear fuel," he said.

At the same time, European Union remains Russia’s largest trade partner, with Russian exports "growing rapidly," Chizhov continued.

"The structure of our exports remains mostly unchanged, with the exception of sanctions-hit products. So far, energy resources still top the list," he added.