Lavrov claims EU moving toward military bloc aimed at countering Russia

The European Union is seeking to transform itself into a separate military bloc and is shaping its security policies to counter Russia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said.

“Now that the Trump administration’s attitude toward Europe has clearly cooled in terms of Washington’s contribution to security, there are, as you know, several trends within the EU. One of them is simply to make the EU a militarily independent bloc,” Lavrov said during a press conference following talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Caliber.Az reports via Russian media. 

According to him, another such "trend" is that EU members cannot cope on their own.

"The British are promoting the idea of creating a separate military alliance involving the most ardent Russophobes from the current EU, with the participation of London and Ukraine. All of this is still at the stage of reflection, discussion, and ideas, but behind it all lies one obvious truth: the EU is building all its security structures against Russia," he claimed.

The minister also argued that Ukraine’s potential EU membership could be used to advance militarisation efforts.

“All the more so since [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy himself has repeatedly stated that he is ready to lead European armed forces,” he noted.

Lavrov recalled earlier discussions dating back to 2014, saying that Russia had opposed Ukraine’s integration into NATO while expressing no objections to EU membership at the time.

“Even back then, when the Ukrainian issue was being discussed in our talks with the EU and the U.S. [2014—ed.], even then, Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized that we are categorically opposed to Ukraine being drawn into NATO in violation of all obligations, and that the EU is an economic bloc engaged in peaceful affairs, implementing projects aimed at improving the well-being of citizens; we have no complaints here,” he said. “The EU has changed radically since then.”

Separately, Lavrov said European discussions also included calls to restore Germany’s “former military might,” which he framed as part of a broader shift in Western policy.

“The West is returning to attempts to reclaim its role as a hegemon, to decide everything for everyone. In this context, the trend toward the resurgence of Nazism is particularly timely,” he said. “First and foremost in Europe, where people are already talking in every possible way about the need to restore Germany’s former military might so that it can have the strongest army in Europe.”

By Sabina Mammadli