MOSCOW, November 24. /TASS/. The European Union should abandon its hypocritical policy towards Ukraine and human rights, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, commenting on the European External Action Service’s statement that Moscow’s decision to recognize "documents and vehicle registrations issued to citizens and permanent residents of Ukraine's Donetsk and Lugansk regions… constitutes yet another attempt by Russia to undermine Ukraine's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity."

"We call on our partners in the EU to avoid this kind of overt hypocrisy and double dealing in their Ukraine policy and respect human rights in general," Zakharova pointed out.

In her view, the EU shows indifference to Donbass residents. Russia regrets that EU countries did nothing to prevent a coup in Ukraine in 2014 and a military operation in the country’s southeast, Zakharova noted. According to her, as a result, 3.7 mln people "had to struggle to survive" and are now deprived of basic rights and freedoms.

"EU countries, who claim that protecting human rights all over the world is their top priority, are actually involved in activities aimed at strangling Donbass residents. They decided not to recognize Russian passports that people in Donbass obtain for humanitarian reasons and not to issue visas to their holders," Zakharova noted, adding that it was a blatant violation of human rights.

The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman emphasized that European countries were showing disregard for the linguistic and educational rights of the Russian-speaking residents of Donbass, only fighting for the rights of those Ukrainian citizens who spoke EU languages. "The EU criticizes Russian laws that make the life of Ukrainian nationals easier but ignores Kiev’s legislative initiatives and actions that make their life unbearable," Zakharova concluded.