Comment by Foreign Ministry Spokesperson on President of the European Council statements in Georgia

Submitted on Fri, 07/12/2019 - 08:01

Speaking today, July 11, at an international conference in Batumi, President of the European Council Donald Tusk came out with yet another anti-Russia attack. He tried to distort the meaning of the well-known statement by Russian President Vladimir Putin that the collapse of the Soviet Union was the 20th century’s biggest geopolitical catastrophe. I would like to remind Mr Tusk that, as the Russian President has stressed a number of times, the disintegration of the Soviet Union led to countless human tragedies where millions of our compatriots and fellow citizens within a moment found themselves abroad, families and peoples became separated. This is in reference, in particular, to Russian-speaking residents of the Baltic republics. The fact that these countries, which have been EU members since 2004, continue to violate their rights and pursue outrageous acts of discrimination on ethnic grounds, in all probability, does not seem to upset Mr Tusk. He should turn his statements towards that rather than throw another Russophobic fit. 

Also, it appears that the outgoing President of the European Council (let me remind you that this is due on November 30) lacks direct communication with the Russian side. This is not the first time where he has launched a distant argument with the Russian President. This happens with others, too. A one-sided dialogue is a new form of conversation. In this respect I would like to recall that it was the EU that took the decision to freeze the main interaction formats with our country, including the Russia EU summits. Perhaps, Mr Tusk should ponder this instead of trying to play on historical themes, which he does clumsily and even awkwardly. He still has some time in his current position to try to rectify the unhappy situation in Russia EU relations, which was not provoked by Russia.