New EU Foreign Policy Doctrine Labels Russia 'Strategic Challenge'

Russia has been labelled a "strategic challenge" in the new EU Global Strategy on Foreign and Security Policy which was prepared by EU Chief Diplomat Federica Mogherini, the website EurActiv reported.

Back in September 2014, just before being appointed as the European top diplomat, Mogherini was the first to say that Russia was no longer a "strategic partner" for Brussels.

The new strategy expected to be unveiled to EU leaders at the 28-29 June summit invokes a new diplomatic "language" towards Moscow.

"The main part of this language is limited engagement with Russia on issues of other interest," an EU diplomat said.

“Russia, as I remember, would be labelled as a 'strategic challenge'. Not a partner, not an adversary, but a strategic challenge, which I think is very good diplomatic language," he added.

He admitted that some EU members found the current formulations too prescriptive and want to soften them. However, other countries insisted that Russia was labelled "aggressor in Ukraine."

Earlier, a diplomatic source in Brussels told RIA Novosti that the leaders of the 28 EU countries will discuss and approve the new EU medium-term foreign policy strategy.