Russia Open To Joint Projects With Europe's PESCO Defense Program - Envoy

Russia Open to Joint Projects With Europe's PESCO Defense Program - Envoy

Russia is open to cooperation with the European Union's PESCO defense program, the permanent representative to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, told Die Welt in an interview

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th April, 2020) Russia is open to cooperation with the European Union's PESCO defense program, the permanent representative to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, told Die Welt in an interview.

When asked whether Moscow saw PESCO as a threat, Chizhov noted that the United States was the first to express concerns over the bloc's defense cooperation initiative.

Russia, he stated, does not view Europe strengthening its common defense policy as a problem and is open to cooperation with PESCO.

Moscow at the same time would not like to see PESCO focusing exclusively on NATO goals - such as the construction of bridges, runways and roads to move closer to the east - at the expense of European taxpayers, according to the diplomat.

As of part of PESCO projects, Moscow would be ready to consider cooperation in cybersecurity and logistics and possible support for the EU's missions in third countries, but would not help construct bridges that would allow NATO to get closer to the border with Russia, he stressed.

According to Chizhov, there are no objective limits for Russia-EU cooperation. The two sides, he went on, could also establish cooperation in artificial intelligence and climate.

The Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) was established by 25 EU member states, except for Denmark, Malta and the United Kingdom, in 2018 to deepen the bloc's military and defense cooperation. The countries have since agreed on the list of 47 joint projects, including training, capability development, cybersecurity and operational defense readiness.