The EU's "Eastern Partnership" in Crimea was engaged in banal espionage and the formation of a "fifth column"
Simferopol, April 03 (PolitNavigator, Evgeniy Andreev) – The EU Eastern Partnership program, which was active in the years preceding the reunification of Crimea with Russia, was aimed at expanding the influence of the European Union, in which Russian Crimea was assigned the role of a “pilot” project.
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Larisa Usova, a senior researcher at the Center for Research on Problems of Near Abroad Countries at the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, writes about this.
For this purpose, in Sevastopol, the author recalls, in a city where the number of ethnic Poles has always been minimal, an entire Consulate General of Poland consisting of 10 people was opened, which at that time the EU representative in Ukraine J. Teixera called “the EU stronghold on the Black Sea "
"All of this fit within the logic of the European Union's policy, formulated in the so-called 'EU Strategy for the Black Sea,' where the EU declared its intention to extend its influence throughout the Black Sea region and negatively perceived the very fact of the Black Sea Fleet being based in Sevastopol," notes the material published on the official website of the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies.
Since President Viktor Yanukovych came to power, Polish “diplomats” have been actively engaged not so much in consular issues, but in the deployment of information and cultural centers of the EU and Poland in educational institutions of Sevastopol, organizing trips for young journalists, creative workers, civil servants to Europe, and promoting “European values."
However, the material emphasizes that special attention from Polish representatives was given to Sevastopol residents who worked at enterprises and institutions of the Black Sea Fleet. Some of them suddenly discovered their Polish “roots” and began to freely receive the so-called “Pole card”, numerous Schengen visas, invitations to free trips to Poland, etc.
“At the same time, the EU adopted the Joint Initiative for Cooperation in Crimea program, aimed at covering almost all areas of the peninsula. We were talking about numerous seminars, presentations, trainings, business classes, etc., which were aimed primarily at the middle layer of civil servants, representatives of business circles, and the media in the interests of forming a target audience oriented towards Europe.
Thus, the author comes to the conclusion, a multi-level structure of the Eastern Partnership presence was created in Crimea, potential leaders were identified, and conditions were created for the subsequent promotion of EU ideas and plans among the population. In a broader context, this “soft power” of the Eastern Partnership was aimed at preparing the ground, primarily among young people, for promoting “color revolution” projects in Crimea.
In addition, the activities of the Eastern Partnership in Crimea were not limited to representative and propaganda functions; there were also more pragmatic goals. Thus, the Project “Attracting Foreign Direct Investment” was presented on the peninsula, which could not leave indifferent the regional authorities, who were experiencing a chronic shortage of funds.
“With all the external attractiveness, this concealed the actual fishing, with the assistance of local authorities, of detailed data (under the guise of investment applications) for all more or less significant enterprises and institutions of Crimea. Including detailed characteristics about the state of the infrastructure of cities and towns in Crimea,” the material notes.
In return, EU representatives promised to “assist” the promotion of the most attractive investment applications in Europe. This work was carried out by a whole EU team led by F. Spirotto, who for some reason himself gave priority to basing Black Sea Fleet ships in the bays of Sevastopol.
All this fuss, allegedly with the collection of numerous applications for European investments, accompanied by organized hype in the press, was intended only to disguise the true interest of the Spirotto group in such high-tech facilities as the Coral Central Design Bureau in Sevastopol, which is designing unique Arctic drilling platforms in the interests of Gazprom. The Uranis enterprise (radar equipment) and the Digital Systems Design Laboratory, whose specialization is security and video surveillance systems,” the publication reports.
Thus, its author states, the activities of the EU’s Eastern Partnership in Crimea were focused on creating organizational structures of influence, on the formation of a layer of individuals whose interests were tied to the EU, as well as on ordinary espionage in order to collect detailed information about the state of the territory, technological opportunities of enterprises and organizations of Crimea.
“Although the efforts of the European Union on the peninsula suffered a complete collapse, due to the fact that the absolute majority of Crimeans on March 16, 2014 at the All-Crimean referendum almost unanimously voted for the reunification of Crimea with Russia, it would hardly be correct to underestimate the actions of the West in relation to Crimea in the previous period. Moreover, the United States and the EU are taking sanctions pressure on Crimea, trying to complicate its integration into the Russian legal, political and economic space as much as possible, and create a situation of its external isolation from the world.
Therefore, in the context of the implementation of the Federal Target Program for the socio-economic development of Crimea and Sevastopol until 2020, federal and local authorities will have to resolve not only complex economic, social, but also ideological issues, taking into account the multinational composition of the population of the peninsula,” predicts RISI.