Is EU heading for Russia?

The European Union is working to change the policy towards Russia, President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker said, speaking in Thuringia.

According to him, Europe cannot build a full-fledged "security architecture" without Russia. "Therefore, the European Commission is working on new relations with Russia: we want to bring people back together to live in peace," European Commission spokeswoman Mina Andreeva cited Junker as saying on Twitter.

In addition, noting that he condemns Crimea's reunification with Russia, Juncker urged not to demonize Russia.

The deputy dean of the Faculty of Global Economics and International Affairs of the Higher School of Economics of the National Research University, Andrei Suzdaltsev, speaking with the correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that such statements should be treated with caution. "The entire West is lining up after Donald Trump now, who is going to meet with Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit in Japan. Even British Prime Minister Theresa May is not against a similar meeting, although she set a condition for Russia to guarantee non-use of chemical weapons - as though we ever used it. It’s not the first time that we hear calls from the EU to leave everything in the past, abandon sanctions. But they forgot to mention that Europe is waiting for the first steps and concessions from Russia. But the dialogue should start on an equal footing, without any preconditions on our part," he stressed.

Speaking about the factors that really contribute to the change in Europe’s relations with Russia for the better, Andrei Suzdaltsev, first of all, named the hard effect of sanctions and counter-sanctions for the European economy. "There are a number of countries which categorically oppose sanctions, but so far, within the framework of a common European discipline, they vote for them. First of all, these are Italy and to some extent Hungary. By the way, one of the countries that has suffered the most from the sanctions is Poland, but it supports the sanctions pressure. In general, of course, against the background of the growing trade war between the U.S. and China and India, this version of the sanctions war with Russia further destabilizes world markets, and it this destabilization is a source of concern to the West," the deputy dean of the Faculty of Global Economics and International Affairs of the Higher School of Economics of the National Research University pointed out.