DISINFO: EaP members are doomed to turn into a buffer between Russia and a united Europe
SUMMARY
According to the declared intentions, the Eastern Partnership programme aims to deepen all-around cooperation between the EU and Belarus on an equal and non-discriminatory basis. The words of equality and non-discrimination cover a special, not advertised, but very important task of the EaP - control over the transit infrastructure in Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova and Transnistria, through which the transit of energy resources from Russia to the West is carried out.
Thanks to it, the EaP members are doomed to turn into a source of cheap resources for the European Union, including labour, markets for poor quality products from the EU, and a buffer between Russia and a united Europe.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the EU Eastern Partnership, which is portrayed as an “anti-Russian” tool used by the EU for alleged interference in internal affairs and control of the post-Soviet countries as well as the West's strategy of encircling Russia.
The Eastern Partnership (EaP) is a joint policy initiative that aims to deepen and strengthen relations between the European Union (EU), its Member States and its six Eastern neighbours: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine. The Eastern Partnership initiative is a mutually beneficial and flexible platform for countries in the region to build a closer relationship with the EU if they choose to do so. The EU does not demand any of its partners to make a choice between the EU or any other country.
The EU does not impose any action or programme on the partner countries. The overall aim of the cooperation is to build a common area of shared democracy, prosperity and stability in line with each individual country's aspirations and wishes. Involvement in the EU initiatives does not exclude membership in the Eurasian Economic Union, CIS or CSTO. The EU is a supporter of regional integration in all areas of the world (see more information about EaP here).
Read similar cases concerning the Eastern Partnership; Belarus leaving the EaP disabled EU from completing a cordon sanitaire between the Baltic to the Black Seas; Eastern Partnership is the anti-Russian and “postcolonial” project of the EU; EU needed Belarus's membership in the Eastern Partnership to build an anti-Russia grouping; Eastern Partnership, the tool of Russophobes in the big game against the East, failed in Belarus.