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Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service claimed Monday that European Union leaders privately reject Ukraine’s accession to the bloc despite publicly supporting its eventual membership.
In a statement published on Telegram, the agency, known as the SVR, said information available to it indicated that European leaders had “categorically” dismissed the possibility of Ukraine joining the EU during internal discussions in Brussels.
The SVR alleged that EU leaders believed Ukraine’s accession would create excessive economic and political risks for the bloc and that the EU lacked sufficient resources to meet Kyiv’s expectations.
According to the agency, those concerns could cause the accession process to continue for many years.
The claims were not accompanied by publicly presented evidence.
The Russian intelligence agency claimed that Brussels intended to offer Ukraine participation in European security policy without giving Kyiv voting rights in decision-making.
It said the offer was intended to prevent disappointment among Ukrainians and what the SVR described as an “anti-European turn” in Ukraine in the coming years.
The agency claimed Brussels had proposed beginning pre-accession negotiations with Ukraine in June as a “sweetener.”
It described public statements about Ukraine’s future accession as misleading and claimed European officials planned to continue promoting membership prospects despite privately believing that accession remained unlikely.
The SVR alleged that both Brussels and Kyiv understood that Ukraine’s membership was improbable but continued to present it as a future goal because Ukraine depended heavily on European financial and military assistance.
It accused Kyiv of cooperating with European officials in what it described as misleading the Ukrainian public.
The agency also claimed European officials intended to use Ukrainians as “cannon fodder” in the confrontation with Russia.
The SVR further alleged that Ukraine’s territory was needed by Kyiv and Brussels to test advanced weapons systems and develop new concepts of warfare.
It claimed Ukraine’s dependence on European financial and military support allowed European officials to pursue those objectives.
The agency said it believed the Ukrainian public would eventually understand who had drawn the country into the crisis and where its future lay.
The SVR also used the term “Little Russia” while referring to the possibility of Ukraine turning against Europe, language included in the agency’s statement.
The EU has repeatedly said publicly that Ukraine’s future lies within the bloc and has supported Kyiv’s membership bid.
European officials have also stressed that accession depends on Ukraine meeting the political, legal and economic requirements applied to candidate countries.
The SVR’s statement focused on its claim that internal discussions differed from those public positions and that European leaders opposed rapid Ukrainian membership because of the potential political and economic costs.
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