On March 8, Russia’s “partners” in the “Northern Dimension” (the European Union, Iceland and Norway) and on March 9, the BEAC member countries (Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Finland, Sweden), as well as the EU, having made unfounded accusations against Russia, announced a decision to suspend Russia’s participation in these formats.
These openly unfriendly steps contradict the basic principles of the functioning of the SI and the BEAC, whose work is based on consensus and has not been subject to political conjuncture until the last moment. Refusal to cooperate through their line is fraught with undermining stability, an atmosphere of trust and good-neighborliness in the North of Europe, leads to the curtailment of contacts between people that have been built up for decades.
Thus, the “collective West” in a frenzy of anti-Russian hysteria strikes at the interests of residents of the northern regions, not caring how these measures will affect their daily lives. The whole array of established ties is collapsing, useful projects and initiatives that have long served the cause of sustainable socio-economic development of the European North are being curtailed.
We will closely monitor what is happening in the SI and the BEAC, and we will give an appropriate legal assessment. But it is already clear that without Russia, the existence of these structures loses its meaning. In fact, they are turning into a “closed club” serving the interests of the European Union.
We expect that the Internet resources of the Northern Dimension and the BEAC will not be used for information warfare, the placement of anti-Russian materials on them is unacceptable.
We proceed from the fact that practical cooperation in the North in the interests of its residents will sooner or later be resumed one way or another.
