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Ukraine meets no criteria for EU candidacy, top Russian legislator says

Vyacheslav Volodin notes total corruption, rampant crime and the rule of oligarchs there, as well as the country’s devastated economy

Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin Sergei Bobylev/TASS

Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin

© Sergei Bobylev/TASS

MOSCOW, June 20. /TASS/. Ukraine meets no criteria for accession to the European community, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said in a Telegram post on Monday.

"Ukraine meets no criteria for either joining the European community, or being granted [EU] candidacy," Volodin wrote, citing total corruption, rampant crime and the rule of oligarchs there, as well as the country’s devastated economy.

"Europe realizes that only too well, too, but the desire to weaken Russia is stronger," Volodin added.

The West is failing to fight Russia till the last Ukrainian standing, Russia’s top legislator said, "which is why Washington and Brussels are ready to do their best to keep the military operation running. In Volodin’s view, the decision to grant Ukraine EU candidacy also stemmed from that.

"A sad fate awaits Ukraine: as the decision making will be officially done in Brussels, the country would lose all its sovereignty," Volodin wrote on his Telegram channel.

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Military operation in Ukraine

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