Russia isn’t trying to divide Europe, but prefers to deal with sovereign states directly rather than engaging with blocs – Kremlin

Russia is seeking partners within the EU to build prosperous trade relations with, the Kremlin has insisted, arguing that Moscow poses no risk to other countries, and just wants engage with them as sovereign, independent nations.

That’s according to President Vladimir Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, who told a French documentary crew that the country doesn’t relish the prospect of chaos in the West. “We are not at all interested in this,” he insisted. “It is in our interests that the countries of Europe prosper, but are all independent of each other.”

At the same time, he told the makers of “Vladimir Putin: Master of the Game,” filmed for France 5, that the standoff across the border with Ukraine earlier this year had been reported in a one-sided way. According to him, analysts made a fanfare of Russia’s troop buildup, but ignored the fact NATO had increased its presence on the frontier.

In June, the Berlin-based European Council on Foreign Relations found that most EU citizens see Russia as either an ally or a partner, rather than an adversary. In the study of 17,000 people across 12 member states, 7% described it as “an ally” that “shares our interests and values,” and a further 35% said the country is “a necessary partner” that “we must strategically cooperate with.” Only a total of 35% said they feel that Russia is a “rival” or an “adversary.”

However, political ties have remained fraught, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov saying in March that “there are currently no relations with the EU as an organization. The entire infrastructure of these relations has been destroyed by unilateral decisions made from Brussels.” Despite that, some individual European countries, he argued, are seeking closer relations with Moscow, “guided by their national interests.”

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