RIA Novosti

RIA Novosti has published an excerpt from an article by Sergei Karaganov, Honorary Chairman of the Presidium of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy. The full text of the article will appear in the journal Russia in Global Affairs.

When analyzing the Berlin Declaration on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the European Economic Community, the predecessor of the European Union, the majority of commentators looked for its shortcoming.

For Russia, Europe is a centuries-long magnet, which has had a strong influence on its cultural identity to this day. For Europe, Russia has always been both a shield and a threat. Russia defended Europe from the Mongols, Turks and Nazis;

Pour la Russie, l’Europe est, depuis des siècles, un pôle d’attraction qui a déterminé et qui continue de déterminer son identité civilisée. Pour l’Europe, la Russie est, à la fois, un défenseur et une menace, défenseur contre les hordes tataro-mongoles

Moscow and Minsk seem to have come to terms. Moscow has increased gas tariffs, and given Belarus a blessing of transition. It has also raised export duties for the oil pumped into Belarus and through it.