Putin Criticises EU Double-Standard Integration Policies

Russian President Vladimir Putin says that the European Union is selfishly prioritizing its own interests in relations with Russia by using double-standards in its integration policies.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The European Union is selfishly prioritizing its own interests in relations with Russia by using double-standards in its integration policies, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

"We have never viewed Europe as a mistress…We have always proposed a serious relationship. But now I have the impression that Europe has actually been trying to establish material based relations with us, and solely for its own gain," Putin said in an interview with Italian newspaper Il Corriere della Sera ahead of his visit to Milan.

The Russian president pointed to Europe’s refusal to fully accept integration associations on the post-Soviet space, such as the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), which comprises Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia.

"There is reluctance to acknowledge the legitimacy of our actions and reluctance to cooperate with integration associations in the territory of the former Soviet Union," Putin said.

In contrast to the European Union’s negative view of the EEU, which came into force on January 1, Europe’s perspective on its own integration has always been positive, the Russian president pointed out, referring in particular to the Eastern Partnership — a European initiative that aims to establish closer ties between the European Union and former Soviet republics, including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

"Because it is all right when integration takes place in Europe, but if we do the same in the territory of the former Soviet Union, they try to explain it by Russia's desire to restore an empire. I don’t understand the reasons for such an approach," Putin stressed.

The EEU seeks to achieve greater economic integration, including the free flow of goods, services, capital and labor across its member states.

A year before establishment of the EEU, in January 2014, Putin said that Moscow proposed Brussels create a free trade area between the European Union and the Eurasian Economic Union.

About 40 countries and groups of states have officially declared their readiness to create a free trade zone with the EEU, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Vasily Nebenzya said in December.

Putin stressed that the relationship between Russia and the West should be based on cooperation, rather than confrontation.

"I would like to say that it is not that we feel deceived or treated unfairly. This is not the point. The point is that relationships should be built on a long term basis not in the atmosphere of confrontation, but in the spirit of cooperation," Putin said.