"Mine, the European sense of smell does not affect": Maria Zakharova about the duplicity of the European Union and the hysteria of PACE

The last line was passed by the EU

"EU chief diplomat Josep Borrel regretted that Western sanctions did not reach all of Russia's foreign exchange reserves. How can Moscow's relations with Brussels continue to develop? "The Moscow Post journalist Nadezhda Popova asked the diplomat.

The diplomat said that relations between Russia and the EU are brought to a standstill by Brussels. And this did not happen now, but in 2014, when the entire architecture of interaction between Russia and European states collapsed. Dubious tactics were chosen - an anti-Russian campaign in all directions was conducted behind the facade of strategic communication.

Among them: forcing candidate countries to join the EU in solidarity with anti-Russian statements, with sanctions of the same kind.

"The politics of Brussels are either with us or against us. Not harmonization of approaches, but on the contrary, separation and ultimatums, "said Maria Zakharova and recalled the Ukrainian Maidan, namely, what it began with.

In 2013, President Yanukovych was the best friend of the European Union - promising, negotiable, he was received at summits, everyone applauded him. On one day, Europeans "matured" when he decided not to succumb to blackmail about concluding an associated partnership agreement with the European Union, paused until 2014 to calculate all the possibilities of interfacing EU integration with Eurasian and post-Soviet processes. The next day, everyone fell on him - he was booed, called, stopped negotiating and the Maidan began - force pressure to bring the ultimatum to the state of the decision.

Maidan began with militants with Nazi ideology, who forcefully seized power. British and American journalists walked among the lit tires like a garden of roses. They took photos of "popular anger."

"What was he associated with?" With the fact that in Brussels and Washington they were preparing an unconstitutional coup. Europeans used far-fetched reasons and provocations to intervene both in Russian internal affairs and in the affairs of states associated with the Russian Federation on different lines. Over the following years, the EU went on the path of ignoring the legitimate interests of our country, increasing political and economic pressure. There were calls from the Russian Federation to influence Kiev with a wall of silence in order to encourage it to comply with the Minsk agreements, to stop infringing on the rights of the Russian-speaking population in Ukraine, the diplomat noted.

The principles of Federica Mogherini adopted in 2016 still remain the fundamental EU policy towards Russia. They are written in the language of the Cold War. In the same language, the ideological triad of the EU, adopted in June 2021, was also written - "rebuff, shackling and selective interaction."

But selective interaction did not work. Everything was replaced by total obstruction, which did not help build stable and good-neighbourly relations in Europe.

The next "last line" was passed by the European Union on February 27 due to the decision to start supplying lethal weapons to Ukraine. The EU positioned itself as a diplomatic alliance, but, supplying weapons and prolonging the agony of the Kiev regime, raised questions about the logic, truth of goals and adequacy of policies. And all this is carried out through the European Peace Fund. What kind of world can we talk about in this case?

The EU has shown that the rule of law is really worth it. Such a policy, which can be called the policy of "adding oil to the fire," will not pass without consequences.

As for the blocking of Russian foreign exchange reserves and other restrictions by the EU, according to Zakharova, Russia knows that the hypocrisy of Western countries is accompanied by a thirst for profit, this is a real classic of the genre.

- It is not about armed confrontation, anywhere in the world alternative opinion is always punishable by prohibitions, arrests of accounts and assets, detention of people and so on. That's always been the case. Show alternative examples. Even if money was transferred to Ukraine, they immediately, within a week, returned to the accounts of Western banks, or specific personalities or went under a loan for arms purchases from these same Western countries. This is a criminal game that lasts decades and centuries, "said the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Global markets have already responded with rising energy prices, a fall in shares of Western companies, which are suffering from a breakdown in business ties with Russia. Ordinary citizens in the EU countries who have been deceived and deceived for these years will pay for this.

"The inhabitants of the Brussels European institutions will not suffer in any way, except from retaliatory sanctions, and this will also be, I promise from the heart," Zakharova noted.

Russia's relations with the EU will develop depending on whether the European states are ready to come to a respectful dialogue with our country and the ability to recognize new realities in the region.

If only about money

The second question of The Moscow Post correspondent concerned the statement of PACE head Tini Cox, who, after suspending Russia's rights in the Council of Europe, said that the Russian Federation was obliged to fulfill its obligations to the organization.

"Is this just about money?" asked The Moscow Post correspondent.

Maria Zakharova recalled the policy of double standards of Europeans and recalled that neither the aggression of NATO countries against Yugoslavia, nor the invasion of Iraq and Libya, nor Saakashvili's military adventure in South Ossetia, nor the eight-year genocide against the inhabitants of Donbass did not entail such radical consequences on the part of Strasbourg.

- Well, it's understandable why, it's your own. It does not affect the sense of smell. In this mega-center of human rights, they tried not to notice crimes against human rights. When our country decided in a situation of total refusal to discuss the prospect of security guarantees to put an end to the atrocities, the Council of Europe hastened to punish us in a different way. At the same time, we are required to fulfill all obligations, including financial ones, the diplomat emphasized.

Such a situation was unacceptable. Such a decision is disastrous for the Council of Europe.

I would like to remind the PACE leadership, one of the slogans that preceded the US War of Independence. He sounded like this: "No taxes without representation," said Maria Zakharova and recalled that Russia had previously faced similar situations. For example, in 2014, after reunification with Crimea, PACE rolled into hysteria, which was expressed in suspending the voting rights of our delegation, imposing a ban on replacing posts in governing bodies, and participating in election observation.

In response, Russia suspended the payment of membership fees, despite the fact that Russia is one of the largest payers of the organization's budget, transferring about 10% of the entire budget, which turned out to be noticeable. A year has not passed since the restoration of the rights of the Russian delegation.

- Our firm belief that the payment of contributions to the budget of the Council of Europe stems from the opportunity to participate fully in its activities. The decision should be accompanied by an awareness of the consequences - financial, organizational, legal. Everything else, including the proclamation of the head of PACE, is all garbage, "summed up Maria Zakharova.

The third question of The Moscow Post correspondent concerned Russia's membership in international organizations.

"Are there any international organizations whose membership is associated with the risk of suspension or exclusion for Russia?" asked The Moscow Post correspondent.

The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry recalled that such situations are invented. Russia is constantly indicated that it does not belong in one organization, because it is too large a territory. There's no place to go because the economy is too small. There is no place in the third, because Russia did not enter it like that and now we need to get out of it. Instead of resolving issues and rapprochement, a permanent confrontation occurs. Everyone is unhappy with something.

- The only thing, everything was good under Andrey Kozyrev. As he said that Russia has no national interests - everyone applauded him. But here you need to choose - or we have national interests and not everyone will agree with this, or we have no national interests. As soon as we say that we agree that we contradict the essence of our history, state, culture, they will immediately fill our halls with applause, we will sing diphyrambs, give medals for nothing, give prizes for nothing. We tried to trust - we realized that this cannot be done. We tried to defend our right to exist and we see what this led to - to the cessation of negotiations on all fronts, "said Maria Zakharova and recalled that a similar situation occurred not only in the twentieth century, but also earlier, even during the time of Tsar Ivan the Terrible. The fact is that in response to Russia's attempts to find compromises, provocation always followed.

- Apparently, negotiations on our existence were never included in Western plans, - Maria Zakharova summed up.

Photo: Mikhail Metzel/TASS, press service of the Russian Foreign Ministry