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The president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, delivered a surprise speech Thursday, calling on the EU to stop allowing Washington to dictate its relationship with Russia, which he said should be treated with more respect.
“Russia must be treated decently … We can’t let our relationship with Russia be dictated by Washington,” he said, according to RT. “We must make efforts towards a practical relationship with Russia. It is not sexy but that must be the case, we can’t go on like this.”
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The United States needs remain distanced from the European Union's relations with other countries, Juncker added.
The European bloc's ties with Moscow deteriorated after the it imposed U.S.-led sanctions on Russia for its alleged role in the Ukrainian conflict. Washington insisted on the sanctions, despite a lack of evidence, while Russia has repeatedly denied the claims.
The E.C. president went further by criticizing U.S. President Barack Obama for labelling Moscow a mere regional power, according to AFP.
"I know from my conversations with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin that he does not accept phrases like when Barack Obama said Russia was a regional power. What does that mean? You can't talk about Russia like that," Juncker told a conference in the southern German town of Passau.
However, Juncker also urged Moscow to adopt a new stance and demanded they "make huge advances.” He criticized Russia for the reunification of Crimea, saying it was unacceptable. Moscow's relations with the West reached a post-Cold War low after Crimeans voted in favor of reunification with Russia. The EU and the U.S. imposed sanctions on Russia as a result of this event.
In addition to Crimea and Ukraine, relations took a further turn for the worse in October, after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a bombing campaign in Syria at the request of President Bashar Assad.
Washington condemns Russia for the airstrikes in Syria, despite the fact they are being carried out in compliance with international law; with the consent of the country’s government. The U.S. and its allies are bombing the Islamic State group in Syria without coordination or consent of Assad's administration. They also failed to obtain a U.N. resolution for their attacks.
Russia began airstrikes in Syria last week, radically changing the course of the four-and-a-half-year conflict in that Arab country. Their strikes have so far destroyed over 110 Islamic State group targets with extreme accuracy, reducing the extremist group's control by about 40 percent.
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