MOSCOW, December 23. /TASS/. Attempts to spread Russophobia in post-Soviet countries began before the 2014 events in Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Channel One’s Bolshaya Igra (or Great Game) show.

"It began long before the February 2014 events and everything that followed. The so-called first Maidan took place between 2004 and 2005, when a third round of [presidential] election was held in accordance with the Constitutional Court’s decision though the country’s Constitution does not provide for it," he said.

Lavrov emphasized that "it was impossible to relate Russia to those events but European politicians, including government members from NATO and EU countries, publicly stated that Ukraine had to choose between Europe and Russia."

According to the Russian top diplomat, these events point to deliberate attempts to spread Russophobia. "A generation has grown up believing this propaganda," Lavrov noted. "This is why there is such an element to our relations and we have repeatedly called on our European colleagues to come to their senses and start working together instead of building new walls and draw new dividing lines," he said.

Lavrov added that Russia had called on the EU to jointly promote the Eastern Partnership initiative for six post-Soviet countries, as well as Brussels’ concept to build ties with Central Asian states, based on the Eastern Partnership principles. "However, they don’t even want to mention in their documents that these six Eastern European and South Caucasus countries, as well as five Central Asian countries, are either CIS, or EAEU, or SCO or CSTO members," the Russian foreign minister stressed.

"It is a sad thing but I think that one day they will realize their mistake," he said.