European Council President Donald Tusk considers Russia to be the EU ‘strategic problem,’ The Guardian reported. 

“I had to publicly remind others, almost every week, that Russia is not our ‘strategic partner’, but our ‘strategic problem’,” Tusk said. “I was even labelled a ‘monomaniac’, for being so focused on this subject. But eventually it paid off.”

Donald Tusk sharply criticized French President Emmanuel Macron, who recently in an interview with The Economist suggested rethinking relations with Russia.

“When I hear Macron’s words, that ‘we must reconsider our position with Russia, to rethink the strategic relationship’, I can only express hope that it will not happen at the cost of our common dreams about Europe’s sovereignty,” Tusk said.

“In the same interview for the Economist, President Macron says that he shares the same views on this subject as Viktor Orbán, and that he hopes that Mr Orbán will help convince Poles to change their position on Russia. But not me, Emmanuel.”