President of the EU Council, Donald Tusk, named Russia Europe’s "strategic goal" in a response to an earlier statement by French President Emmanuel Macron, calling for the EU to renew dialogue with Russia. The Russian leader’s strategic goal, Tusk said, speaking at the College of Europe in Brugge, was “not only to regain control of the former Soviet Union territories, but also to systematically weaken the EU by provoking internal divisions”.

“I had to publicly remind others, almost every week, that Russia is not our “strategic partner”, but our “strategic problem”, - the outgoing EU Council president said. – “I was even labeled a “monomaniac”, for being so focused on this subject. But eventually it paid off”.