- Going back to the subject of The Hague, this was the first meeting after the EU expansion. Did you get the impression, as a high-level professional, that after the EU expansion, Western Europe's attitude towards Russia is changing, and not for the better, precisely because Eastern European countries have joined the EU and they have a huge grudge against, formerly, the Soviet Union and now Russia. Some of these countries are now taking an active part in the situation in Ukraine, let's say, and it's obvious that Polish diplomacy is very active there.
- Unfortunately, I have to agree with this conclusion. This is not just my impression. I had the impression that I felt it with my skin, literally. I made a speech a month or a month-and-a-half ago in the European parliament. I was invited by the European parliament, and it is a rarity for a Russian to speak in the European parliament, especially addressing a 250-strong audience. I made a 15-minute
speech and then was subjected to the toughest grilling, a question-and-answer session. The tone was set not by representatives of the old Europe, 15 countries, but by representatives of the 10 countries which entered the EU recently. The tone of their speeches reminded me of the hottest debates during the first congress of people's deputies of the Soviet Union, the sharpest speeches by deputies.
Interestingly, some of those deputies have moved from Moscow to Brussels, I mean Mr Landsbergis and several others. They are the same, they remain the same, they have got a chance to jump from the Communist past into the hyper-democratic today. But they have received no education in political maturity, political correctness,
or tolerance. So, these people have integrated into Europe with all their inferiority complexes, Russophobic complexes first of all. Whether our tested partners in Europe want to see it or not - it will soon be impossible not to notice it - a certain bloc, an informal bloc so far, has been established inside the European Union, mainly made of 10 new countries, but also some northern countries. For instance, the recent behaviour of Finland on many issues is a surprise for us. Well, they have not been particularly friendly to Russia recently. In a word, there is a bloc of countries which, I think, are trying to snatch the initiative from European Union giants -...
- Speaking about giants loyal to Russia you mean France, Germany,Italy -
- yes, first of all - and to start forming completely different agendas, making them much tougher. This is the first sign. The second sign is the EU's heightened attention, hyper-attention towards the so- called frozen conflicts on the territory of the former Soviet Union. They call them new neighbours, they are new neighbours for the EU: the Caucasus, Moldova, Belarus, and Ukraine. And they wish to be very active players on this patch, while ignoring realities which have existed there for a long time, and interests which have existed there for a long time, even ignoring international structures which have been busy trying to settle those frozen conflicts for a long time. So, I think that in the past six months certain elements have appeared in the EU's policy towards Russia which are disturbing for
us of course.
via Marius
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