DISINFO: The EU Eastern Partnership is a Russophobic instrument
SUMMARY
For years, the EU has seized every institutional opportunity to show its anti-Russian and Russophobic vein, shamelessly dressed with fake news, against anything or anyone closely related to Russia. The latest example has been the Eastern Partnership Summit. Stressing the EU intentions towards those countries, Finland’s prime minister Sanna Marin said: “Strengthening relations with the Eastern Partnership countries is also one of the five principles of the EU’s policy on Russia.” There is no need to add anything.
And after all that happened between the EU and Belarus during the last year, this Slavic country decided to leave this group. In this regard, the president of the European Commission Ursula Von der Leyen, in reference to the empty chair of Belarus, affirmed: “I hope that this chair will be soon filled by a democratically elected Belarusian leader”. This shows a sort of despair from the EU because the sort of colour revolution that it wanted to impose in August 2020 during the election in Belarus didn’t work, unlike the one years before in Ukraine.
RESPONSE
The claims are false and manipulative. The Eastern Partnership aims to strengthen and deepen the political and economic relations between the EU, its Member States and the partner countries. It is by no means directed against Russia. However, Russia, in line with its claims about what it calls its “sphere of influence”, perceives any unsanctioned bilateral relation of these countries formerly under Moscow’s orbit as a threat to its interests. The Eastern Partnership is a frequent target of pro-Kremlin disinformation, as this story exemplifies.
The article deliberately misrepresents the stance of Finland’s prime minister's office as “Russophobic”, while the office clearly states that the goal of the EU Eastern Partnership Summit is to “promote stability, security and wellbeing throughout Europe”. For this reason, it “addressed Russia’s role in the conflicts in the region and, in particular, its actions in Ukraine and at its borders.” Accusing those who call out Russia’s illicit behaviour of “Russophobia” is a frequent pro-Kremlin disinformation technique, aiming to deflect any Russian responsibility for these actions.
The article also repeats long-term pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about EU-backed “colour revolutions” as a means to discredit popular protests against Moscow-allied governments by falsely framing them as foreign-induced operations, in this case, the protest movement contesting widespread fraud in the Belarus election in August 2020 and the Euromaidan protests in 2013-2014.
For more examples of disinformation targeting Eastern Partnership, see here.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that the interruption of a press conference of Spanish president Pedro Sánchez in Lithuania by Russian aircraft was staged and Russophobic, that the EU policy towards Russia is ‘contain, intimidate and counter’, that “absurd” accusations against Russia are an attempt to demonise it, or that Russophobia and baseless accusations are a daily occurrence because the West fears Russia.
This disinformation story appeared in the same article as the claim that “The EU used the EaP Summit to launch more fake news against Russia”.