Russia has terminated decades-old military cooperation agreements with Portugal, France and Canada as tensions increase over EU proposals to use frozen Russian assets to provide loans to Ukraine.
The agreement signed with Portugal dates back to the year 2000 and covers “various areas of cooperation”, according to the site of Russia’s Ministry of Defence, which it says are now ‘no longer strategically relevant’.
All three agreements date back to the period following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 when relations between Russia and the West seemed to be improving. Fast-forward to 2025 and Russia will not be the only country considering the accords have lost all meaning.
Earlier this year, Russia also rescinded its ‘technico-military accord’ with Germany, accusing the country of pursuing an “openly hostile policy” and “increasingly aggressive militaristic aspirations”.
As all reports have stressed, these decisions coincide with increasing tensions over the frozen Russian assets held in Belgium which the European Union seeks to use to support the reconstruction of Ukraine.
The Russian embassy in Germany has stressed that “any transaction with frozen sovereign assets of Russia without its consent would be a theft. And the theft of Russian state funds would have far-reaching consequences”.
Coincidentally, a recent poll of Europeans saw 80% of Portuguese answering that they do not believe this country has the wherewithal to defend itself “in a future military offensive waged by the Kremlin”.
Sources: Euronews/ Correio da Manhã
