The expert assessed the possibility of building up the EU's military potential

Despite certain successes in the integration of the military-industrial complexes of individual countries, in general, there is no possibility of a radical increase in the EU's military potential, Dmitry Stefanovich, a researcher at the IMEMO RAS Center for International Security, told Izvestia.

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"Contradictions remain regarding the priorities of military construction and suppliers of various types of weapons and military equipment. Of course, many countries are implementing military-technical cooperation projects with non—regional actors (the United States, Turkey, South Korea, Israel, and others), but such projects also often cause contradictions within the EU and do not always fit into the overall strategy for developing military capabilities," the expert believes.

In the future, the European Union may become a threat to Russian security. However, this scenario is far from predetermined, and a joint run on the long-known rake of the arms race can be tried to slow down, or even stop, Stefanovich concluded.

Earlier, the EC announced an 800 billion euro rearmament program for the European Union. To finance the costs, Brussels offers EU countries to increase their defense spending by 1.5% of GDP. Thanks to this, the EC intends to raise 650 billion euros for the production of weapons. Another €150 billion for defense investments is planned to be obtained through loans.