BRUSSELS, March 07 /ITAR-TASS/. The European Union uses double standards in interpreting the Ukrainian Constitution, Russia’s EU envoy Vladimir Chizhov told Russian journalists in Brussels after Thursday’s early EU summit devoted to the Ukrainian crisis.
It looks rather strange the European Union has assumed the right to interpret the Ukrainian Constitution at its own discretion to declare that Crimea’s forthcoming referendum contradicts it and will be illegitimate, Chizhov said.
“Generally speaking I would advise everybody to be very careful as far as referendums are concerned. After all, they are a direct expression of the people’s will. In all other respects it remains to be seen. The referendum is not very far away, just ten days from now. We shall take a look at the results first.”
“If the European Union were genuinely concerned over whether the current events agree with the Ukrainian constitution, then it would have easily seen that in both constitutions of Ukraine, be it the 2010 edition or the earlier, 2004 version, that of the presidential republic or the mixed parliamentary-presidential type of the republic, just as the constitutions of a majority of other states there exists a certain procedure of ousting the head of state from power,” Chizhov said.
He recalled the three possible options - the president’s death, resignation or impeachment.
“As far as Yanukovich is concerned, none of the above options apply. To say the current authorities in Kiev are legitimate will be possible only if one turns a blind eye on the hard facts,” Chizhov said.