The European Union’s plans to beef up its defense are a potential threat to Russia, which might be forced to take countermeasures, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Friday, according to Russian media.
“All this militarization is happening mainly against Russia. This, of course, could potentially be a topic of deep concern for us,” Peskov told journalists, Russian news outlet Interfax reported. He said the Kremlin may need to “take appropriate countermeasures to ensure our security.”
“We see that the European Union is now very actively discussing the topic of the militarization of the EU, the development of the defense segment in particular. These are processes that we are closely monitoring, because the European Union positions Russia as its main adversary,” he added.
The comments come after all 27 EU leaders on Thursday at an emergency summit endorsed a proposal to dramatically boost defense spending by up to €800 billion across the bloc using a range of new funding instruments.
Peskov also said that EU’s plans of “transforming from an economic to a military alliance” could negatively impact the chances of striking a deal to end the war in Ukraine.
“Such confrontational rhetoric and confrontational plans that we are now seeing in Brussels and in European capitals, of course, are seriously at odds with the mood for finding ways to peacefully resolve the situation around Ukraine,” said Peskov.
The EU’s proposal comes as the United States appears to be pulling back its commitments to Europe’s security. Washington suspended military aid to Ukraine on Monday following last week’s disastrous Oval Office meeting between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
