Moscow sees Eastern Partnership Summit as anti-Russian

Russia says it has a negative view of the EU's Eastern Partnership summit to be held in Latvia next month, calling it "anti-Russian."

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Aleksandr Lukashevich said on April 24 that the Kremlin is "very negative" about the summit and will have a "very tough and principled" reaction to it because "the essence of this partnership has a clearly anti-Russian coloring."

The Eastern Partnership summit on May 21-22 in Riga will group officials from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine and EU members with the goal of strengthening economic and political relations with EU members.

EU officials have repeatedly told Russia that the EU Neighborhood Policy -- of which the Eastern Partnership is part -- is not targeted against anyone.

The EU has signed Association Agreements with Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia, whose governments have stated the goal of becoming union members.