New declaration marks EU's 'complete subordination' to NATO: Russia

MOSCOW

With their new joint declaration, the EU has ensured its “complete subordination” to NATO, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.

This declaration proves that the US wants to make the EU a “vassal” to be used in its global rivalries, said ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

NATO and the EU signed a new joint declaration on Tuesday aiming to further boost cooperation amid the ongoing Ukraine war, as well as new challenges posed by China.

It also deals with growing geostrategic competition, issues of resilience, and the need to protect critical infrastructure.

Other priority areas include emerging and disruptive technologies, space, the security implications of climate change, foreign interference, and manipulation of information.

Zakharova said the document views security in the Euro-Atlantic area through the prism of countering Russia, and allows for more supplies of weapons and military equipment to Ukraine, increased military mobility in the European “theater of operations,” and further expansion of NATO.

This violates the commitments made by European countries part of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, she added.

Zakharova termed the declaration “another eulogy of the philosophy of Western superiority.”

“It states bluntly that NATO and the EU will use all political, economic and military means ‘in the interests of our one billion citizens.’ The rest of the world is essentially viewed as a hostile environment,” she added.

She slammed the EU’s attempts to force countries to follow its approved foreign and economic policies, stressing that such interference is what has led to the current global crises.

Such “aggressive and confrontational approaches” toward states pursuing an independent foreign policy are part of the EU and NATO’s attempts to divide states into “friends” and “outsiders,” she added.

This will only hinder the peaceful settlement of conflicts and weaken international security in the face of the persisting challenge of terrorism, she said.

Zakharova said EU citizens have to decide whether they want to be dependent on the US.

No matter how hard Washington and Brussels try, the new world order will never be centered around NATO and the EU, she asserted.