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Lavrov says EU’s foreign policy should be more independent

According to Russian top diplomat, a serious blow was dealt to the EU’s image when in February 2014 the supporters of a coup in Ukraine "crushed the signatures of Germany, France and Poland" put on an agreement with former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich

MOSCOW, December 22. /TASS/. The European Union should become a more independent actor in foreign policy, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with the Bolshaya Igra (Big Game) program on Russia’s television Channel One.

According to Lavrov, a serious blow was dealt to the EU’s image when in February 2014 the supporters of a coup in Ukraine "crushed the signatures of Germany, France and Poland" put on an agreement with former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich.

Besides, the authorities in Kosovo have failed to honor some deals signed with the EU’s mediation, the minister noted.

"The EU is helpless. That’s why certainly we want the EU to understand its active and fair role in global affairs. Recently, I heard a throne speech of Queen Elizabeth II who said that after leaving the EU we [the UK] will become much more active in foreign policy," Lavrov said.

"You understand how strange this sequence is. When being part of the EU, we [the UK] were not very active and now when we are on our own, we would do something. I wish the EU as a potentially very strong foreign policy player was more independent," he noted.

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