EU: Russian pressure on Eastern partners is unacceptable

A European official has called the pressure of Russia on EU’s Eastern Partners "unacceptable”.

European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Fule commented in in Strasburg yesterday while reporting to European MPs on the results of the EU-Russia summit held last week.

"Pressure put by Russia on our Eastern partners is unacceptable for us. Our common neighbours should have freedom to decide by themselves which political and economic Association Agreement they want to sign,” Fule said.

He said the EU had "very clearly” expressed that expected Russia to respect the choice of Eastern Partnership countries and not to interfere in the process of signing AA and DCFTA agreements.

Fule said Russian President Vladimir Putin stated he did not see any problem in the Eastern Partnership program. However Putin was concerned about particular economic issues, deemed "controversial” by the EU Commissioner.

"Since Russia joined the World Trade Organisation in 2012 it has not fulfilled its obligations. We are concerned with increasing protectionism applied in trade which significantly damages EU business,” Fule stated.

He said Russia was a dominant force in this sense – setting protectionist measures.