29 May 2018 15:30

Russia needs Germany to be more active in European affairs - MP Kosachyov

MOSCOW. May 29 (Interfax) - Russia's relations with the European Union, including Germany, are a hostage of the stance of the United States and the Baltic states, so Moscow hopes Berlin becomes more active in European affairs, Federation Council Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Konstantin Kosachyov said at a meeting with German Parliament Vice-President Wolfgang Kubicki.

"We need Germany to be more active and, I dare say, to play a leading role in European affairs. We are perfectly aware of Germany's role and significance in the EU and on the European continent as a whole: this role is both economic and political. Yet we have the impression that a non-regional country, I mean the United States, has too big a role in determining the European agenda. Simultaneously, the influence of European nations which are far from the biggest, such as Poland or the Baltic states, is also unfairly great," Kosachyov said.

Russia's relations with the European Union, including Germany, are going through a period of stagnation, he said.

"Relations between Russia and the European Union and between Russia and Germany have been a hostage of the U.S. attitude to Russia, on the one hand, and the Baltic republics' policy toward Russia, on the other. Both want the policy to be as anti-Russian as possible," Kosachyov said.

"This is why I am saying that we need a more active role of the leading European powers, such as Germany, which definitely has national interests in the context of Europe and Russia but, it seems to us, sometimes prefers not to fully speak its mind because of the erroneously understood principles of Euro-Atlantic and European solidarity," he said.