The dialogue between the EU and Russia is blocked only because certain European countries have anti-Russian sentiments, and the sanctions imposed on Moscow are not justified, according to false narratives released by the Moscow media and the Russian Foreign Ministry, including directly through the voice of Minister Sergei Lavrov. The narratives, which are not new, were reactivated after several EU heads of state, gathered at the European Council meeting, rejected the Franco-German proposal to hold a summit with Vladimir Putin.
NEWS: “France and Germany's proposal to hold a Russia-EU summit has been thwarted because of the Russophobic stance of a minority in Europe”, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov wrote in an article published Monday in the Kommersant newspaper and the Rossiïa v globalnoï politike magazine.
“The EU policy is increasingly established by an aggressive Russophobic minority, a fact that was fully confirmed at the Brussels summit on June 24 and 25, which focused on prospects for the relation with Russia. The initiative set forth by Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron regarding a meeting with Vladimir Putin was thwarted, although the proposal had just been made”, Lavrov wrote.[…] “Observers noted that, by holding the Russian-American summit in Geneva, the US gave the green light to this initiative, but the Baltic and Polish countries put an end to this 'personal initiative' on the part of Berlin and Paris (and the ambassadors of Germany and France were summoned to the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to explain the “initiative”), Lavrov stressed.[…] Talks in Brussels eventually led to a request to the European Commission and the European External Action Service to draw up new sanctions against Moscow, “without specifying any ‘sin’, just to have a backup. If they want, they will invent something”.
NARRATIVES: 1. The EU-Russia dialogue is blocked by a Russophobic minority in Poland and the Baltic countries. 2. Anti-Russian sanctions have no ground. 3. While Russia seeks constructive relations, the EU refuses to engage in a dialogue with the Russian leaders.
LOCAL CONTEXT / ETHOS: In the context in which the American president, Joe Biden, met in Geneva with the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, the president of France, Emmanuel Macron, and the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, proposed to the European leaders to organize a summit with Russia to discuss the problems accumulated over the last few years. The proposal was rejected in particular by the leaders of Poland, the Baltic States, Sweden and the Netherlands. One of the main concerns is the continuation of Russia's aggressive policy and its refusal to withdraw from the occupied territories (Crimea) or to stop supporting separatist forces. Russia presented the conclusions of the Brussels summit as a victory for the Russophobic minority in Poland and the Baltic countries, stating that a series of unjustified sanctions would follow, just like the others imposed before.
PURPOSE: The purpose of these narratives is to present to the public opinion a Moscow that is constantly seeking peace and dialogue, unlike the EU, which is divided and dominated by the anti-Russian sentiments of the eastern member states. The need to continue the EU's sanctions policy is also put under a question mark.
WHY THE NARRATIVES ARE FALSE: In reality, both the decision of the EU leaders and the sanctions policy had a logical explanation, which was presented to the public. According to the summit's conclusions, the EU heads of state called on Russia to take full responsibility for ensuring the full implementation of the Minsk agreements, as a prerequisite for any substantial change in the EU's position. In this way, the EU continues to show solidarity with Ukraine in its efforts to respond to hybrid threats. “The European Council expects the Russian leadership to show more constructive involvement and political commitment and to put an end to actions against the EU and its Member States, as well as against third countries”, one of the conclusions of the European Council meeting reads.The leaders of the Baltic countries and Poland said that a meeting with the Kremlin leader would be possible only after Russia had met several security conditions, stating that their countries felt threatened. It should be noted that the states in the east of the EU suffered the most in the past from the policy carried out by Russia / the USSR / the Russian Empire. The frustrations related to Russia were the reason why the Macron-Merkel initiative regarding a possible EU-Russia summit was rejected, not Russophobia, as Lavrov says. Given the situation in Donbass, the annexation of Crimea by Russia, the MH17 case (which explains the position of the Netherlands) and the persecution of the opposition in Russia, some EU states consider that a meeting with Putin would be a surrender to Moscow without achieving Brussels’ strategic goals.Moreover, the EU stated in the final document of the meeting that it wanted to cooperate with Russia in a few areas, such as climate, environment, health, as well as on certain foreign policy and security issues, which shows the openness of the EU and not its Russophobic attitude.Lavrov's statement that the sanctions have no ground is also not true. In the same conclusions of the EU leaders’ meeting, mention is made of the failure to observe peace agreements in Donbass, the violation of the fundamental rights of the free press, of civil society institutions (an allusion to the case of the opponent Navalny) and so on. Moreover, every sanction introduced against Russia has been discussed and substantiated at EU level.
GRAIN OF TRUTH: The proposal to hold an EU-Russia summit triggered, indeed, a wave of discussions at the European Council meeting. Angela Merkel did not agree with the leaders who rejected the summit, stressing that dialogue was necessary in any situation. “The president of the United States met with Vladimir Putin for a serious discussion, without leaving the impression that it would be a reward for the Russian president. A sovereign EU, in my opinion, must also be able to represent the interests of the EU in a similar discussion”, Merkel said at the end of the European Council meeting.
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