24 April 2015, 00:43 GMT
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russia's reaction to the summit of the Eastern Partnership will be severe and principal, this meeting clearly is directed against Russia, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Alexander Lukashevich said Friday.
"We, of course, shall follow the summit in Riga, but even now it is evident that our reaction will be severe and principal," Lukashevich said at a briefing.
The spokesperson noted that the "purpose of the partnership has a pronounced anti-Russia sentiment."
The Eastern Partnership summit of EU and ex-Soviet countries will take place in the Latvian capital on May 21-22, 2015.
The partnership is an EU initiative with a stated goal of strengthening relations with its neighbors in Eastern Europe and Southern Caucasus – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine.
Brussels claims the initiative is not anti-Russian, but is merely a response to the member countries' desire to deepen their ties with the 28-nation Union.
