Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova’s answer to a media question about the latest anti-Russia statements by President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen

Question: Would you comment on the statements made by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in her October 19 address at the Hudson Institute, where she said that “Russia and Hamas are alike”?

Maria Zakharova: People have grown used to the EC president’s ideologically motivated clichés. She jumps at every opportunity to hype the anti-Russia agenda. Her statements are extreme examples of nationalism, xenophobia and provocations aimed at inciting interfaith and interethnic hatred.

The commission president made her latest anti-Russia statement in an address at the Hudson Institute during her visit to the United States. Seeking to vilify Russia, she hinted that there is a “Russian connection” to everything that happens around the world. She went as far as to link the developments in Ukraine to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

In reality, the only connection between these two events is the EU’s policy of double standards. The EU has called for respecting international humanitarian law in Gaza. As for the Kiev regime, they gave it free rein to kill civilians in Donbass back in 2014. Ukrainian neo-Nazis are being trained, armed and set against the civilians who have made a legitimate historical choice in favour of reuniting with Russia. The EU continues to invest billions of euros to drag out the hostilities in flagrant violation of its own principles of peaceful coexistence, which form the basis of European integration.

Von der Leyen’s latest statements are a classic example of the factual distortions which have become a trademark of Western politicians. We would like to point out that the United States and the EU shoulder a significant share of the responsibility for the current tragedy in the Middle East. Washington and Brussels have essentially blocked international efforts in Palestine, disabling the only recognised multilateral mechanism – the Middle East quartet of intermediaries – in the interests of their own geopolitical ambitions. The consistent policy of the US-EU tandem to prevent a comprehensive settlement of the Palestinian issue on the basis of international law is one of the main causes of the current large-scale escalation of the conflict.

The cynicism of the EU’s current position is so flagrant and unacceptable that hundreds of EU officials have pointed this out in an open letter to Ursula von der Leyen. It is the latest example of the EU’s inner degradation, a return to the dark periods when some European leaders did not think that every life is equally invaluable.

It is obvious that the attempts to link the Ukraine issue to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict are also aimed at justifying the EU’s continued assistance to the corrupt Kiev authorities and prolonging the confrontation with Russia. Deliberately playing on the fears of Europeans, who are weary of their governments’ reckless foreign policy schemes, is a favourite method of Western propaganda. The goal is to get them to shell out more money for the plans to militarise the EU economy, the main beneficiary of which will be US defence companies.

Such actions can only undermine the authority of the EU in the eyes of the global majority, because they are not based on an analysis of the international situation but rather are the product of domestic politics and a desire to toe the Washington line. Ultimately, the EU, which once claimed to be strategically autonomous, is losing its political identity.