The Kremlin has condemned the EU’s plan to increase defense spending across the bloc, calling it a path towards confrontation that hinders peace efforts with Ukraine.

During an emergency summit in Brussels on Thursday, EU leaders endorsed a €800 billion plan to “rearm Europe” proposed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

”The European Union is actively discussing its militarization, specifically in the defense sector,” the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated on Friday. The measures are “primarily aimed at Russia, which is, of course, a matter of deep concern,” he added.

French President Emmanuel Macron claimed on Wednesday that Russia poses a direct threat to France and the entire EU. He echoed von der Leyen’s calls for a significant increase in defense spending to counter perceived danger posed by Moscow.

Macron’s comments adhered to the conventional Western narrative portraying Russia as the unprovoked aggressor in the Ukraine conflict and claiming that Moscow has ambitions of conquest in Ukraine and beyond into EU and NATO states.

Russia has repeatedly and categorically denied the claims.
Moscow will however, take measures to safeguard its security in response to the bloc, Peskov has warned.

“The kind of confrontational rhetoric and confrontational plans that we are now seeing in Brussels and in European capitals strike a seriously discordant note with intentions to find a peaceful resolution in Ukraine,” Peskov added.

Russia and the United States launched negotiations last month to try and settle the Ukraine conflict, sidelining the EU. The move sparked condemnation from the bloc.

Moscow has argued the EU’s aggressive stance made it unfit to take part in peace talks. Trump has also reportedly halted American military aid to Ukraine, leaving Brussels jostling for funds to support Kiev.

Moscow maintains that Western aid prolongs the war without altering its outcome.

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