MOSCOW, January 14. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that all Ukraine’s problems in relations with Russia and with the citizens stemmed from an unconstitutional coup.
"We always say that all the current problems of Ukraine - in terms of relations with Russia and the citizens - stemmed from an unconstitutional coup. Our Western colleagues, including German ones, at first claimed that this started from one point. And when we explain the epistemology of this conflict, they do not know what to say," Lavrov stated.
"By the way, regarding Crimea and the Ukrainian authorities that you want to join NATO, do not forget that from the very first days after the coup, they did not care about the agreement, signed by Germany, France, and Poland, between [ex-president of Ukraine Viktor] Yanukovych and the opposition. Despite all the statements and promises, they did not even listen to what the EU thought about it. And eventually, the EU agreed. After that, these protesters immediately started claiming that a Russian in Crimea would never speak Ukrainian, think in Ukrainian, would not glorify the heroes of the Second World War, meaning the accomplices of the fascists [Stepan] Bandera and [Roman] Shukhevych. And then, in Crimea, people rebelled against this having repulsed the attack on Crimea’s Supreme Council and announcing a referendum," the top diplomat recalled.
However, the German colleagues, with whom Russia is in talks on the Donbass conflict in the Normandy format, responded to Moscow’s reminders relating to Kiev’s obligation to comply with the Minsk accords by offering to "leave this all aside and just fulfill them without finding who was responsible."
According to Lavrov, the West viewed this approach as democratic. "In my opinion, it is shameful, however, it is necessary to conduct genuinely serious talks," the foreign minister concluded.