U.S. SENATE CRITICIZES RUSSIA FOR PRESSURE ON EU ASPIRANTS

Chris Murphy, who heads the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations’ Subcommittee on European Affairs, criticized Russia for putting “considerable pressure” on Eastern European countries who want to join the European Union. He made this statement commenting for the radio Free Europe on the situation in the European Union’s Eastern Partnership (EaP) initiative.  

“Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Belarus should be free to chart their own future. Our message should be that the door to Euro-Atlantic institutions is open, and if you’re prepared to meet reasonable conditions, we will support you,” Murphy said. Murphy slammed Russian bans on goods from aspiring EU countries.

“Unfortunately, it seems as though Russia sees this whole contest as a zero-sum game and has put considerable pressure on each of the [Eastern] Partnership countries to discourage them from strengthening relations with the EU. We’ve seen a ban on wine imports from Moldova, chocolate from Ukraine, fertilizer from Belarus, and the list just goes on and on and on,” Murphy said, noting that it is an inadmissible policy.       

Members of the committee also asked U.S Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland about progress in countries that have Euro-Atlantic aspirations. Nuland said the Vilnius summit will represent “a historic moment” for Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia, and “a key step towards their dream of one day being fully integrated into Europe.” She said all three “have worked very hard to bring their judicial and law enforcement structures closer to the EU standard and to prepare their political systems and their economic and energy markets for greater integration with Europe.”  

The European Union is set to vote on whether to sign an Association Agreement and a Deep and Comprehensive Trade Agreement with Ukraine at a summit in Vilnius on November 28-29. It will also decide whether to initial those same agreements with EU aspirant countries Moldova and Georgia.