DISINFO: Europe pushes into Eurasia, the Black Sea and the Arctic
SUMMARY
Europe continues to push its own agenda across Eurasia, interfering natural ties between Russia, Central Asian states, and partners in the South Caucasus. It is also intruding into the Black Sea region while disregarding the Organisation of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) and behaving similarly in the Arctic.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about the belligerent West trying to encircle Russia, to separate post-Soviet countries and isolate Russia, made in the context of measures being taken to enforce the sanctions on Russia imposed by the EU in response to its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Regarding cooperation between the EU and Central Asia, the EU bases its cooperation with its partners on shared values, principles and goals. The EU-Central Asia strategy outlines three priority strands for EU engagement: investing in regional cooperation and partnering for resilience and prosperity. The EU is the second largest trading partner for Central Asia, as well as the largest investor, with over 40% of investments in the region originating from the EU.
In 2025 the EU adopted a new strategy for a stable and secure Black Sea region. This Strategy aims to boost connections and growth, by linking Europe with the South Caucasus, Central Asia, and beyond. Amidst Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, the strategy will also reinforce the EU's geopolitical role as a reliable actor in the Black Sea region.
A year after the EU adopted its latest Arctic Strategy in 2021, Russia – the largest Arctic nation – launched a full-scale war in Ukraine. That war has increased tensions across Europe, but also in the Arctic. Moscow has re-opened and modernised Soviet-era military bases in the High North. One of the world’s largest concentrations of nuclear weapons is located on the Kola Peninsula, right across the Norwegian border. The Arctic has also become a testing ground for Russian missiles. Europe must catch up with years of Russian military build-up in the region.
EU HR/VP Kaja Kallas emphasised at the 2026 Arctic Frontiers Conference:
"…the Arctic is critical for transatlantic security. It will require more attention, more resources and—yes—more hard power (..)
Arctic security is not defined through a military lens alone. It is also about resilient societies, about people building lives in an unpredictable environment, and about sustainable life.
A safe, secure, livable and prosperous Arctic is a global common good. It’s up to us to make it happen. And that is what the EU will work for, together with, and in support of the Arctic nations."
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives in our database, such as claims that EU and NATO to set up reconnaissance facilities at Kazakhstan's ports, that Borrell admitted that the West relies on Kazakhstan’s support in anti-Russia blockade, that EU Resolution on Central Asia: critical materials for LGBT agenda, that the EU is buying up Kazakhstan, that the UK wants to open a new anti-Russia front in Central Asia; that West tries to force Kazakhstan to join anti-Russian sanctions policy; that the EU uses the CIS to contain Russia by all means: financial, economic, and military.