Russian Foreign Ministry Renames Its European Cooperation Department the Department of European Problems

Paul Goble
    Staunton, Nov. 3 – For many years, the Russian foreign ministry had a department for European Cooperation that dealt with ties to the European Union, the OSCE, the Council of Europe, and NATO. But now because of the changed international situation, the ministry has renamed that section the Department of European Problems.
    The head of the department remains the same but as foreign ministry spokesperson Mariya Zakharova pointed out, the new name better reflects the current state of relations between Moscow and these European institutions (vedomosti.ru/politics/news/2024/11/03/1072794-mid-rossii-poyavilsya).
    More important, the change in name institutionalizes those new and more hostile relations and means that unless there is a change back at some future point, Moscow’s approach to European  bodies is likely to remain more hostile for far longer than would otherwise be the case.