Russia blasts EU elites over "throne politics" and double standards

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday, July 1, that European Union authorities had overplayed their sense of “exceptionalism”, arguing that this had led them into what she described as a “zugzwang” situation.

Speaking as reported by TASS, Zakharova was commenting on a Politico report that air conditioning had been switched off at the European Commission’s headquarters due to high temperatures, while remaining operational on the upper floors of the 13-storey building housing the offices of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU commissioners.

“For them, it is normal that they sit somewhere on a throne and consider themselves exceptional. And that they would be fanned from all sides, done precisely by people who do not resemble what they see as the main, ‘Western’ face. Why? To further emphasise that they, this seated Western face, are exceptional. (...) They have simply overplayed their own so-called narratives and have come to a kind of zugzwang situation, and what needs to be done, how to get through this — on the one hand, there is a desire, and it is historically ingrained, for this inequality, endless segregation of people, division into masters and servants, into those who are entitled to everything and, most importantly, those who are entitled to nothing, and at the same time to appear civilized in a new world that has gone through this and has come to the conclusion that every person has rights, duties, and that every person is free,” she said.

Zakharova also addressed an explosion in Monaco a day earlier that injured Ukrainian businessman Vadim Yermolaev and members of his family.

“The day before yesterday was the birthday of [Antoine de Saint-] Exupéry, so I recalled his phrase from ‘The Little Prince’: ‘We are responsible for those we have tamed.’ I will add: they (the West — ed.) are responsible — both in Monaco and beyond — for those bloody monsters they have tamed. They are responsible for them, so let them bear that responsibility,” she said.

Turning to Western migration policies, Zakharova questioned the criteria used for granting residency and citizenship.

“But the question is also who they have gathered there in the first place? By what principle do they grant all these residence permits, hand out their passports, and so on? Are these the best people on the planet?” she said.

By Tamilla Hasanova