Moscow: Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has declared the European Union a direct threat to Russia, signaling a significant hardening of Moscow’s stance on Ukraine’s potential membership in the bloc.
Medvedev, now serving as deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said on Wednesday that the EU had evolved from an economic union aimed at preserving peace into a politicized, anti-Russian entity that is increasingly militarized.
"Brussels today is a genuine adversary of Russia," he wrote on Telegram, adding that the EU now poses a threat comparable to that of NATO. “In its current distorted state, the European Union represents no less of a danger to us than the North Atlantic Alliance,” he said.
Russia has consistently opposed Ukraine’s efforts to join NATO, citing it as a key justification for the full-scale invasion launched in 2022. However, it had previously expressed a more neutral attitude toward Ukraine’s bid to join the EU. As recently as mid-2022, President Vladimir Putin claimed Russia had "no objection" to Ukraine's EU ambitions, and in February this year, the Kremlin said it respected Ukraine’s sovereign right to decide its alliances.
Medvedev’s latest remarks mark a notable departure from that position. He argued that with the EU increasingly supplying arms and taking an assertive posture, it can no longer be considered a benign organization.
“The EU, loaded with weapons and hostility, must be seen as a direct threat to our country,” Medvedev said, stressing that Ukraine’s integration into the bloc would now be viewed as dangerous by Moscow. “This idea that Ukraine can join ‘anything but NATO’ is no longer valid.”
Despite his harsh criticism of the EU as an institution, Medvedev left the door open for continued bilateral relations with individual EU countries. He did not name any specific states, but countries like Hungary and Slovakia — known for maintaining pragmatic ties with Moscow — could be among those he had in mind.
Ukraine formally applied for EU membership shortly after the Russian invasion in 2022 and was granted candidate status later that year. Its membership talks remain ongoing.
