MOSCOW, April 20. /TASS/. Europe has grown tired of Ukraine, which fact will inevitably be reckoned with while considering the issue of the Russian delegation’s competences at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Alexey Pushkov, the head of the Russian PACE delegation, told TASS on Monday.
"Ukraine was considered by the European Union a state that has carried out a democratic revolution and is rapidly moving towards Europe. But now they see that there has been no democratic revolution in Ukraine," Pushkov said, adding that Europe’s growing tiredness of Ukraine would ultimately be at Russia’s advantage.
"They [in Strasbourg] know perfectly well about political violence in Ukraine," he said. "The country demonstrates extremely dangerous tendencies, instead of showing positive tendencies." Moreover, Europe "cannot but see that there is no real anti-corruption campaign [in Ukraine]," he said, adding that anti-corruption efforts were just for show.
"This tiredness and growing suspicion towards Ukraine, where political process is growing not just chaotic but literally bloody, I think, will play its role too," Pushkov said. "Fascination with Ukraine many PACE delegates used to have is now gradually fading away. And it is quite logical. I don’t think all PACE lawmakers will turn a blind eye on the series of political murders in Ukraine."
As for attitudes towards Russia, he said the atmosphere was changing for the better. "Many in Europe are now standing for more active dialogue with Moscow because they understand that neither complicated problems in our relations with the European Union nor the Ukrainian crisis could be solved without such dialogue," he said, adding that Russian lawmakers planned to organize "a very important meeting" with European Union ambassadors to discuss these issues. Tendencies in the European Union "make it possible to hope that the situation at the PACE can grow more positive if not this summer but at least by the end of the year," Pushkov noted.