Call for new EU strategy regarding Russia: MEPs mention Lukashenka-Putin ties, Kremlin’s contributing to hybrid attacks

On September 16, the European Parliament adopted the recommendations to the Council of the EU, the European Commission, and the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy on the direction of EU-Russia political relations.

The text was approved by 494 votes in favour, 103 against with 72 abstentions. The EP says the EU must push back against aggressive policies while laying the groundwork for cooperation with a future democratic Russia. Assessing the state of EU-Russia relations, the European Parliament makes clear that it distinguishes between the Russian people and President Vladimir Putin’s regime. The latter is, Parliament says, a ‘stagnating authoritarian kleptocracy led by a president-for-life surrounded by a circle of oligarchs’. MEPs stress, however, that a democratic future for Russia is possible and that the Council must adopt an EU strategy for this scenario, encompassing incentives and conditions to strengthen domestic democratic tendencies.

Those who voted in favour believe the new EU strategy should be centred on the ‘push-back, contain and engage’ principles, which are aimed at strengthening the EU’s capacity to combat the Kremlin’s threats, especially in the EaP region, including Belarus.

‘The EU also needs to respond to the fact that President Putin openly supports Mr Lukashenka’s regime and its brutal repressions against the people of Belarus and collaborates with Mr Lukashenka on hybrid attacks against the democratic forces of Belarus; the EU therefore needs to acknowledge that in this way the Kremlin is posing a direct threat to the sovereignty and democracy efforts of Belarus, and has to make it clear that, if Russia continues its current policy on Belarus, the EU will have to introduce additional harsh containment and deterrence measures, because by defending democracy in Belarus, the EU also supports democracy in Russia,” the text reads.

In accordance with the recommendations, the EU should expose Russia’s involvement in the hybrid actions of Lukashenka’s regime against the EU, including the use of migrants as a tool to destabilise the West, and hold the Kremlin accountable for such hostile and barbaric actions.

“The EU and its member states should make it clear that they will not accept any attempts to incorporate Belarus into Russia, as these would be made against the will of the Belarusian people and negotiated by an illegitimate leader <…> The EU, while fighting to stop illicit money flows from Russia, should pay special attention to financial flows from Belarus, since autocrats and corrupted oligarchs are interconnected; the EU institutions’ special reports to Parliament should address the issue of Russia’s financial interference in Belarus, including in strategic sectors, and include information about assets of Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s entourage and corrupted oligarchs,” the EP press service qootes the recommendations.

In addition, the bloc should initiate and contribute to international investigations into crimes committed by President Putin’s regime against the people of Russia and the crimes committed by Mr Lukashenka’s regime in Belarus, MEPs suggested.

Belsat.eu, following europarl.europa.eu