Moscow Calls on EU to Abandon 'Confrontational Approach' as Brussels Adopts Defence Strategy

The Russian Foreign Ministry has expressed hope that the United States will also refrain from fuelling the situation in light of the EU adopting its new defence strategy.

Moscow calls on the European Union to abandon its "confrontaitonal approach" towards Russia in light of Brussels' new defence strategy, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.

"We call on the European Union to abandon its inherently self-defeating confrontational approach towards our country and our allies, and to return to the principles of the UN Charter and the 1975 Helsinki Final Act", said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova during her briefing.

She also voiced hope that the US "will not put its hatchet under the strategic compass of Brussels so that the EU does not completely go astray".

Last week, the European Union approved the Strategic Compass, which is a new defence strategy that envisages a rapid deployment capacity of up to 5,000 troops and conducting regular joint military drills.

Yet, according to EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, the new strategy is "not about" creating a European Armed Forces, as he noted that each EU member state will still have its own military.

Commenting on Brussels' new defence strategy, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said that it ties Europe even more tightly to the US defence industry, adding that Washington had forced European nations to increase spending on American military equipment.

In Russia's view, the new defence strategy marks the ongoing "creation of another branch of NATO".