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Lavrov: US, EU better aware of risks of flirting with Ukrainian opposition

PETROPAVLOVSK KAMCHATSKY, January 25, 20:32 /ITAR-TASS/. The United States and the European Union are now better aware of the risks they may create and face by flirting with the Ukrainian opposition, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

“I had a very detailed meeting with Catherine Ashton, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, in Montreux [on the sidelines of the Geneva II international conference on Syria],” Lavrov said on Sergei Brilev’s Vesti v Subbotu (News on Saturday) television programme on January 25.

“I discussed this issue with Italian Foreign Minister Emma Bonino and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. I could sense a much better understanding of the danger of flirting with the opposition just for the sake of supporting it against the incumbent authorities than when all this began at Maidan [Kiev’s Independence Square] a month ago,” Lavrov said.

His foreign partners “expressed keen and I would say anxious interest in helping calm the situation because this can be done only by the Ukrainians themselves.”

“It is very important to ensure that no calls are made from the outside, which the opposition and especially the hit men who have been rampaging lately would take as an encouragement to act as if backed up by the opinion of the European community,” Lavrov said.