EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas is unfit to represent the European Union in negotiations with Russia because she is simply stupid, not because she is a tough negotiator. That assessment came from Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council and chairman of the United Russia party.

Medvedev’s criticism followed remarks by Kallas in which she invoked former Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko. The EU’s top diplomat also insisted that she should represent the bloc in negotiations, despite opposition from the Russian side.

According to Medvedev, however, Moscow is far from alone in rejecting her candidacy. He argued that nobody wants Kallas at the negotiating table, dismissing the idea that her reputation for taking a hard line has anything to do with that rejection.

The dispute followed an earlier episode at an EU summit in Dublin, where Kallas attempted to quote Gromyko but mistakenly attributed to the Soviet diplomat words he had never spoken.

The statement she used actually refers to the so-called «Gromyko trap.» In the West, the term describes a negotiating tactic in which one side begins by making deliberately tough demands, then waits for its opponent to offer concessions.