HELSINKI, March 3. /TASS/. The European Union opted for a worsening of relations with Russia and imposed sanctions on it after supporting a government coup in Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a joint news conference following talks with his Finnish counterpart Pekka Haavisto, adding that such a turn of events was very regrettable.

"We favor the normalization of relations between Russia and the European Union," he said. "We find it regrettable that the EU opted for introducing sanctions against Russia after in fact it reconciled itself with and supported the February 2014 government coup in Ukraine," he stated.

Lavrov recalled that "many Western analysts are now publishing facts that explain how the 2014 government coup in Ukraine had been plotted and staged."

"These facts are available. They make it absolutely clear how it all happened," he added. "I do hope that the EU will now read this new evidence."

"I believe that in any case the European values the EU professes do not imply connivance with the ultra-radicals and neo-Nazis or tacit consent with the reforms that are being implemented in Ukraine in crude violation of the rights of ethnic minorities, first and foremost, those in the language and education spheres," Lavrov said.

Maidan events

On November 21, 2013 one week before Ukraine was expected to sign an association agreement with the European Union at the Vilnius summit, the Ukrainian government said it was suspending the process of preparations for concluding the agreement with the EU. In response the then opposition in the Verkhovna Rada upset the sessions of parliament. Demonstrators emerged on Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square). A three-month-long harsh standoff followed. Aggressive radicals seized a number of administrative buildings in the center of Kiev and created armed groups, which clashed with the law enforcers.

On February 21, 2014 the opposition and President Viktor Yanukovich concluded an agreement on ways of settling the crisis and creating a government of national unity. However, attacks on government buildings continued. The head of state had to flee the country. The opposition factions in parliament seized power the next day. On February 22, the Verkhovna Rada passed a resolution saying that Yanukovich had abandoned his post and called an early presidential election.