EU foreign policy chief has no 'logical thinking,' Russia says over Türkiye comments

MOSCOW

Russia lashed out on Friday at the EU's foreign policy chief over remarks lacking "any logical thinking" as they targeted Türkiye for its ties with Moscow and urged it to join the bloc's sanctions imposed in the wake of the war in Ukraine.

In response to a question by Anadolu Agency about Josep Borrell's comments, Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova criticized the top diplomat for demeaning his position and spreading "lies and stupid things."

"He is reading notes provided to him, he does not have any logical thinking and this thinking has deeper roots, like colonialism and fascism," said Zakharova.

Asserting that Borrell and other Western officials "ignore the national interests" of Türkiye and other countries, Zakharova said Ankara could "be member of NATO if it serves West's interests, but it cannot be part of the EU and is banned from the Schengen area."

Earlier, Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also took aim at Borrell over the "ugly" remarks, saying: "I do not take Borrell as my interlocutor. He can only be Mr. (Turkish Foreign Minister) Mevlut's (Cavusoglu) interlocutor."

"In other words, Borrell cannot appoint or regulate our relations with Russia. He has neither the quality nor the capacity to make such a decision on these matters. It was a very ugly comment," Erdogan told reporters aboard the presidential plane returning from his Turkmenistan trip.

On Thursday, EU states agreed on the ninth round of sanctions against Russia, a few days after Borrell announced that there was "no 100% agreement" between the foreign ministers of member countries, without detailing the points of disagreement between them.

The new set of sanctions include restrictions on mining investments in Russia, as well as the banning of exports of dual-use goods to the country.