Russian Duma speaker slams EU leadership as unprofessional, poorly educated

Russian State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin has criticised the European Union, attributing its current crisis to what he calls unprofessional and poorly educated leadership. 

He argued that the EU’s decision to abandon Russian energy supplies has rendered its economy largely uncompetitive, TASS reports.

“EU leadership made mistakes on its own. There was no need to assist them. By rejecting cheap Russian energy, they have made their economy virtually non-competitive. Based on these, though not all, factors, one can speak of a crisis period in the European Union,” Volodin wrote on Max.

He claimed that the EU was initially designed to exert total control over Eastern European countries, which gained independence after the Soviet Union’s collapse, serving Western political and economic interests. For Germany, France, and Italy, he noted, this included access to new markets and labour resources, with investments in the EU returning benefits multiple times over.

Over time, Volodin said, poor management and missteps worsened the situation, leading the EU to rely on Ukraine for natural resources, a large market, and cheap labour.

“This did not solve their problems. The war in the Middle East has further intensified issues in gas and oil supplies, exposing the EU’s vulnerabilities and the risks its policies pose to member states,” he added.

Volodin also stated that the EU has become a costly burden for the US and a market for expensive shale gas. As a result, energy prices in Europe rose 1.5 times in March, and previously competitive industries are being relocated across the globe.

By Jeyhun Aghazada