Mikhail Gorbachev on Europe's poor relations with Russia

The EU must offer a future to all the countries of Europe including Russia, writes the former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in the left-liberal Frankfurter Rundschau: "The current model of EU relations with other European countries is based on absorbing as many of them as quickly as possible while leaving the relationship with Russia a "pending matter". ...Is this reluctance a sign of unwillingness to accept, and take part in, Russia's resurgence? ... Too many European politicians do not want a level playing field with Russia. They want one side to be a teacher or prosecutor and the other, Russia, to be a student or defendant. Russia will not accept this model. It wants to be understood; simply put, it wants to be treated as an equal partner. Rising to the historic challenges of security, economic recovery, the environment and migration requires a redesign of global and, most importantly, European political and economic relations."

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