The EU is turning into a militaristic and expansionist project of a Nazi type, prolonging the war in Ukraine to seize Russia's resources, according to pro-Kremlin media.
NEWS: The EU is becoming a Fourth Reich, obsessed with a new blitzkrieg, the leader of the “Another Ukraine” movement, Viktor Medvedchuk, said in an opinion piece published on the organization's website. According to the former leader of the “Opposition Platform — For Life” party, the EU’s aggressive expansion has already begun. More specifically, he claims that EU elites are investing in the conflict in Ukraine to obtain reparations and control over Russian resources.
“Instead of an economic union, the EU is being hastily transformed into a Fourth Reich, obsessed with a new blitzkrieg. Increased military spending is intended to be recovered from defeated 'uncivilized' peoples”, Medvedchuk said.
Previously, the Chairman of the State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, said that Brussels is currently undergoing a period of crisis and that member states need Ukraine to overcome existing problems. He recalled that the EU, created between 1992–1993, needed to take total control over Eastern European states that became independent after the collapse of the USSR to achieve its political and economic goals.
NARRATIVES: 1. The EU is turning into a “Fourth Reich”. 2. The EU fuels the war in Ukraine to obtain economic benefits and access to Russia's resources. 3. EU expansion is an aggressive project of political dominance.
OBJECTIVES: To demonize the EU by associating it with Nazism. To shift responsibility for the war in Ukraine onto the West. To delegitimize European support for Ukraine's self-defense. To compromise EU enlargement.
Fact: The EU was designed specifically to prevent the repetition of wars and totalitarian crimes
WHY THE NARRATIVES ARE FALSE: The comparison between the EU and a Nazi regime (a “Fourth Reich”) is a propaganda label. European integration was launched after World War II precisely to prevent the outbreak of a new war between the great powers of Europe. The Schuman Declaration, one of the founding texts of European integration, affirms that the new architecture was meant to make future wars between old European rivals “unthinkable” and “materially impossible”, and EU treaties establish that the Union's purpose is to promote peace, its values and the well-being of its citizens.
At the center of the EU's legal and political framework are human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and human rights. EU legislation compels member states to sanction serious forms of racism and xenophobia. Therefore, the analogy with Nazism does not describe the nature of the EU, but attempts to compromise a project created to prevent Europe's return to war and violence.
Pro-Kremlin media provides no evidence to support its narratives. The text resorts exclusively to alarmist analogies without citing documents, official decisions or statements to support such allegations.
Over decades, EU expansion and integration have been accompanied by cooperation mechanisms and neighborhood policies oriented toward stability and dialogue, not military confrontation. In the case of Ukraine, the EU (through France and Germany) supported diplomatic efforts to cease hostilities in Donbas after 2014 through mediation formats and agreements meant to reduce violence. The fact that European states have invested predominantly in integration, development and cooperation projects, rather than massive military capacities, reflects their orientation toward peace.
EU support for Ukraine occurs within the context of Kyiv exercising its inherent right to self-defense against the war of aggression unleashed by Russia. Documents adopted by EU institutions show that sanctions were introduced as a reaction to the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014 and significantly extended after the full-scale invasion in 2022. EU member states started helping Ukraine only after it was attacked by Russia. Therefore, the EU cannot be held responsible for triggering or prolonging the war.
Furthermore, the claim that the EU aims to seize Russia's resources is not supported by facts. The narrative regarding resources is a classic propaganda theme intended to create an external enemy and justify the war. In fact, economic relations between the EU and the Russian Federation were robust for a long time, including in the energy sector, and their degradation was caused by Russia's violation of international law by attacking Ukraine.
Through the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, Russia pledged to observe the independence, sovereignty and borders of Ukraine and to refrain from the threat or use of force, in exchange for Kyiv renouncing its nuclear arsenal. Moscow, however, violated these commitments and resorted to military aggression. Therefore, Russia is fully responsible for the war, and the conflict could stop the moment Russia withdraws its troops from Ukrainian territory.
The reference to a new “blitzkrieg” is intended to manipulate public opinion. The EU does not have its own army. Its security and defense policy relies on capacities provided by member states. The consolidation of European defense and increased military spending are reactions to Russia's aggression against Ukraine and intensified hybrid threats from Moscow.
The narrative about “aggressive” EU expansion is also false. Accession does not occur through force or annexation, but at the request of the interested state and only after fulfilling strict criteria regarding democracy, the rule of law, the protection of minorities, the market economy and administrative capacity. Therefore, expansion is a voluntary process based on clear rules. Additionally, EU expansion is associated with economic growth, prosperity and rising standards of living in states that choose this path.
Viktor Medvedchuk's credibility as a source is very low. His party, “Opposition Platform – For Life” was banned in Ukraine in June 2022, and the oligarch was transferred to Russia during a prisoner exchange in September 2022.
CONTEXT: Viktor Medvedchuk was one of the most influential pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine and a close ally of Vladimir Putin. After the 2022 prisoner exchange, he arrived in Russia, where he launched the “Another Ukraine” movement in April 2023. Under these circumstances, Medvedchuk no longer represents a real political current in Ukraine.
EU institutions have warned for years that Russia has intensified hybrid campaigns against European unity through manipulation, disinformation, sabotage and cyberattacks. From this perspective, the “Fourth Reich” narrative is not a mere opinion, but a piece of propaganda designed to demonize the EU, invert the roles of aggressor and victim, and transfer the blame for the war onto the West.
