Russia's Medvedev calls EU an enemy, says Ukrainian membership would be dangerous

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday that the European Union had evolved into an enemy of Russia that posed a direct threat to its security, and Moscow was now opposed to Ukraine joining the bloc.

Russia has long been opposed to Ukraine joining the NATO Western military alliance - one of the reasons it gives for its decision to launch a full-scale war against Ukraine in 2022.

But it has in the past been more relaxed about the prospect of Kyiv becoming a member of the EU. President Vladimir Putin said in June 2022 that Russia had "nothing against" that, and the Kremlin said as recently as February that joining the bloc was Ukraine's sovereign right.

However, Medvedev, who is now deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, said that the EU had shifted from being an economic bloc dedicated to preventing war into what he called a politicised anti-Russian organisation that was slowly turning into a military bloc.

"Brussels today is a real enemy of Russia. In its current twisted form, the European Union is no less of a threat to us than the North Atlantic Alliance," Medvedev wrote on Telegram.

He said it was therefore wrong to say now that Ukraine should be free to "join anything you like" apart from NATO.

"The EU, stuffed with weapons...is a direct threat to Russia. That is exactly how it should be treated. At least until it changes its approach to us," he added. "Thus, the so-called (idea of) Ukraine in the EU is a danger for our country".

Ukraine applied for EU membership shortly after the start of the war in 2022 and was granted candidate status later that year.

Medvedev said that bilateral cooperation between Moscow and certain individual EU member states should, however, continue. He did not name specific countries, but central European neighbours Hungary and Slovakia have taken pains to maintain cordial relations with Putin since the start of the war.

(Reporting by ReutersWriting by Andrew OsbornEditing by Mark Trevelyan)