Russian way to EU, NATO blocked - State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee head
MOSCOW. Sept 20 (Interfax) - Russia should remain an independent power center; it will not join military political unions either in the East or in the West, State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Alexei Pushkov told a Thursday press conference at the Interfax central office.
"Russia should remain an independent power center. In fact, the international situation predetermines our choice," he said.
Pushkov said though that Russia should not be isolated from the rest of the world.
Russia cannot be a member of the European Union or NATO, he noted.
"Let us not forget that the West is integrated. There are two main integration systems, the European Union and NATO, and we have no access to either of them," he said.
"Any serious European politician but Silvio Berlusconi will say that there is no possibility of Russia's entry into the European Union in the foreseeable future. The European Union will be unable to digest Russia," he said.
"Let us not forget that we are unable to join the military political Europe either. The military political Europe is NATO, and NATO is a union whose members are formally equal, but, as George Orwell put it in his "Animal Farm," All Animals are equal, but some are more equal than others," the parliamentarian said.
"There is an animal in NATO, which is more equal than others. The admission of Russia to NATO would mean, in the eyes of the United States, the creation of the second center of attraction in the organization solely dominated by the U.S.," he said.
The leading European countries will also resist the admission of Russia to NATO because they fear they will be moved to the background and Moscow and Washington will settle global issues independently, he remarked.
Russia won't join military political unions in the East either, Pushkov said.
"Most probably, we will make no military political unions in the East, and there is no one to make such unions with. China is absolutely not willing to conclude military agreements, does not need that because it sticks to the free hands principle in the foreign policy. True, our relations are close, we have strategic partnership and we are allies in a number of fields, but we will hardly formalize that with a special treaty, at least, in the near future," Pushkov said.
