DISINFO: Eastern Partnership is the anti-Russian and “postcolonial” project of the EU
SUMMARY
From its very beginning, the EU Eastern Partnership programme was not the instrument for cooperation but a tool of interference in internal affairs of the post-Soviet countries. This initiative, promoted by the Foreign Ministers of Poland and Sweden Radosław Sikorski and Carl Bildt, had one obvious geopolitical goal: to weaken the relations of these countries with Russia and to isolate Moscow on the post-Soviet space. That is why the project was immediately welcomed by the Americans, while the Germans and the French were sceptical about it.
The Eastern Partnership contradicts the very concept of “partnership” as it imposes a whole series of obligations on one side and leads to interference in its internal political affairs.
There is an assumption that political practices adopted in the countries of the East are inferior in comparison to the supposedly enlightened and progressive West. It is the result of a superior postcolonial approach to the republics of the former Soviet Union, which are not perceived as subjects, but objects for various decisions, claims and instructions.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the EU Eastern Partnership, which is pictured as an “anti-Russian” and “postcolonial” tool used by the EU for alleged interference in internal affairs of the post-Soviet countries.
On 26 June 2021, Belarus suspended its participation in the Eastern Partnership – this step was the reaction of the official Minsk to the introduction of the next package of the EU sanctions against Lukashenka’s regime.
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 Eastern Partnership stands for good neighbourly relations and respects the individual aspirations and ambitions of each partner country. Read more about the Eastern Partnership and its priorities here.
Read similar cases concerning the Eastern Partnership here.