DISINFO: Endless accusations give the West a reason to restrain Russia's development
SUMMARY
This is another way of restraining Russia, just as the notorious sanctions are, because these endless accusations give them reason to apply restraining measures, as those who resort to such methods in dealing with Russia and restraining Russia’s development. Why are they doing this? Because they see Russia as a threat, they see that Russia is becoming a rival to them. — The West launches “friendly” relations with Russia only when the country collapses and when on these pieces has been built something new.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation on sanctions and West's aggression. euvsdisinfo.eu/disinformation-cases/?text=sanctions&disinfo_issue=&date=, euvsdisinfo.eu/disinformation-cases/?text=&disinfo_issue=&disinfo_keywords%5B%5D=77319&date=, Since March 2014, the EU has progressively imposed restrictive measures against Russia. The measures were adopted in response to the illegal annexation of Crimea and the deliberate destabilisation of Ukraine. www.consilium.europa.eu/en/policies/sanctions/ukraine-crisis/, There is in fact a clear record of strong cooperation between the EU and Russia, dating back to 1994, when the two sides negotiated a Partnership and Cooperation Agreement. Russia was identified as a strategic partner for the EU, and was the only country with which the EU held summits not once, but twice a year. A new EU-Russia agreement was being negotiated up until 2014, at which point talks were unfortunately suspended due to Russia's involvement in the Ukraine conflict. Negotiations were also in train on visa facilitation. There was also cooperation between the EU and Russia on a number of foreign policy issues, some of which continues to this day. The EU and its Member States have maintained a clear policy of reaching out to Russian society and youth, mainly through the Erasmus+ student exchange programme and other people to people contacts. NATO has consistently worked hard to build a cooperative relationship with Russia since the early 1990s, through the Partnership for Peace and creation of a NATO-Russia Council, and specific cooperation in the Western Balkans on and issues like counter-narcotics and counter-terrorism. In fact, as NATO points out, no other NATO partner has been offered a comparable relationship, nor a similarly comprehensive institutional framework: http://bit.ly/2e0TZnG. In 1997, Russia was invited to join the G7 group of major advanced economies in the world, thus forming the G8. (At the time, Russia ranked 14th to 17th in the list of countries according to GDP: http://bit.ly/2dWb51l; http://bit.ly/2ejhOpw; http://bit.ly/2dqu4jQ). In 2006, President Putin hosted the G8 summit in Saint Petersburg. Russia's membership of the G8 was suspended in 2014 because of its illegal annexation of Crimea. Russia joined the Council of Europe, the continent's leading human rights organisation, in 1996. For more on EU-Russia relations see https://eeas.europa.eu/headquarters/headquarters-homepage/35939/european-union-and-russian-federation_en For more on NATO-Russia relations see https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/topics_50090.htm