A Just Russia Party links review of EU's anti-Russian policy with departure of today's incompetent political elites
MOSCOW. Nov 15 (Interfax) - The European Union will stick to its positions on Ukraine and Crimea for as long as the current elites of European countries stay in power, the deputy chairman of the State Duma faction of A Just Russia Party, Mikhail Yemelyanov, told Interfax on Monday.
"Europe will maintain its course of resistance to Russia precisely for as long as the current elites stay in power. Clearly, it is very difficult both for [German Chancellor Angela] Merkel, [French President Francois] Hollande and other leaders to change their position because they have invested too many image-related things in it," Yemelyanov said.
However, it is obvious that "fundamental changes are taking place in the world, and the ideology of liberalism in the form in which it is present [in different places], including in Europe, is collapsing," he said.
It is also obvious that "the current elites of the EU are not self-sufficient and are unable to take any resolute steps or make changes," he said.
At the same time, this does not match the sentiments of Europeans themselves, he said.
"Europeans want changes, and I think that the next elections both in Germany, France and other European countries will show that, in other words Europe is also in for changes following America," he said.
"If [U.S. President-elect] Donald Trump follows his position of limiting U.S. interference in other states' affairs, including during elections, there will certainly be shifts toward Russia in a whole number of countries where the people have traditionally been pro-Russian - both the former republics of the Soviet Union and the Balkan countries. It is totally obvious," Yemelyanov said.
European foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said earlier that the EU's positions would remain unchanged even if the U.S. changed its policy on Ukraine and Crimea under Trump.