To Divide the West, Putin Reaches Out to the EU’s Weakest Members

To Divide the West, Putin Reaches Out to the EU’s Weakest Members
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras attend a signing ceremony in the Kremlin, Moscow, Russia, April 8, 2015 (AP photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko).

This week, the United States found itself in a brief and unusual diplomatic spat with its normally quiet NATO ally, the Czech Republic. The U.S. ambassador in Prague, Andrew Schapiro, criticized Czech President Milos Zeman for saying he would attend the May 9 Victory Day parade in Moscow, which commemorates the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany. The mainly ceremonial president’s announcement infuriated not only the U.S., but many Czechs, including Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, since it came despite the European Union’s ongoing sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine crisis. Today, Zeman changed course, announcing that he would not be attending the ceremony in Moscow after all. But the controversy was far from an isolated gaffe.

Zeman is one of a number of EU leaders who have, to varying degrees, defied the consensus between Brussels and Washington that Russia must face consequences for its actions in Ukraine. With the cease-fire in Ukraine’s embattled east apparently holding, and with Russia’s economy adapting to Western sanctions and lower energy prices, Russian President Vladimir Putin is launching a diplomatic offensive with the intention to divide the EU, reaching out in particular to its newer and poorer members. The EU sanctions will expire on July 31 unless all 28 member states agree to renew them. Putin is doing everything in his power to prevent an extension.

On Wednesday, Putin hosted Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, the head of the recently elected far-left Syriza party, in Moscow. The meeting was friendly, coming just a day after the Greek and Hungarian foreign ministers met in Budapest and announced plans to sign on to Russia’s new Turkish Stream gas pipeline, and two days after Putin visited Cyprus and agreed to extend a $2.5 billion loan. Putin has said Tsipras did not ask him for economic aid, even though Greece has been engaged in tense negotiations with its creditors—the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission—over its debt obligations and could use some help. But Tsipras, like Zeman, has criticized EU sanctions on Russia and defended Putin’s moves in Ukraine, suggesting that Greece may be open to Russian economic assistance. Whether Tsipras actually wants such support or is simply using the threat of it as a negotiating tactic with the EU remains to be seen.

Keep reading for free!

Get instant access to the rest of this article by submitting your email address below. You'll also get access to three articles of your choice each month and our free newsletter:

Or, Subscribe now to get full access.

Already a subscriber? Log in here .

What you’ll get with an All-Access subscription to World Politics Review:

A WPR subscription is like no other resource — it’s like having a personal curator and expert analyst of global affairs news. Subscribe now, and you’ll get:

  • Immediate and instant access to the full searchable library of tens of thousands of articles.
  • Daily articles with original analysis, written by leading topic experts, delivered to you every weekday.
  • Regular in-depth articles with deep dives into important issues and countries.
  • The Daily Review email, with our take on the day’s most important news, the latest WPR analysis, what’s on our radar, and more.
  • The Weekly Review email, with quick summaries of the week’s most important coverage, and what’s to come.
  • Completely ad-free reading.

And all of this is available to you when you subscribe today.

More World Politics Review