MOSCOW, June 28. /TASS/. The Ukrainian people will overcome all trials and choose a better future and successful economic model, which may not be necessarily connected with the European Union, the more so, since the country's chances of joining the EU look slim, the Russian Security Council’s Deputy Chairman, Dmitry Medvedev, said in an interview with the weekly Argumenty I Fakty."

"I am sure that the Ukrainian people will overcome these trials. They will choose a better future, strong leaders, fair laws and a successful economic model. And I am not at all sure that this model will be connected with the European Union," he stated.

"The more so - I’ll say it again - Ukraine’s membership chances, despite the status of a ‘candidate’ slim," he added, noting that "cynical Europeans directly say so outright, looking into the eyes of the Ukrainian leaders, wide open with surprise and psychostimulants ".

Medvedev believes that, in general, "Ukrainians had a hard time in recent years."

"On top of the economic difficulties there have piled up various orange and other Maidans, a succession of random and strange personalities in the presidential seat, and constant attempts by the West to turn Ukrainians into obedient servants (including literally, if you recall what Ukrainians have to do in the EU countries)," Medvedev said.

During its special military operation in Ukraine, Russia is fighting Nazis and thugs while it has deep respect for Ukrainian people, according to Medvedev.

In an interview with Argumenty i Fakty newspaper, he said that "by providing help to the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, Russia is not fighting Ukrainian people. The battle is against despicable Nazis, extremist groups, egregious bandits and foreign mercenaries who joined them," Medvedev emphasized.

He reiterated that the goal of the special military operation is to stand up to the neo-Nazi forces that came to power in Ukraine and had been terrorizing the population of the Donbass republics for years. The official also noted that Russia’s Armed Forces are striking military targets and not residential buildings. "As opposed to the Ukrainian Nazis who are using civilians as a human shield," he noted citing the events in Mariupol as well as hostage situations at Azovstal and Azot enterprises as examples.

Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine is being conducted because freedom is better than lack of it, Medvedev said.

In an interview with Argumenty i Fakty, responding to a question as to what he now thinks about a slogan that became a key message of his presidency, Medvedev said: "The same."

"Freedom is better than lack of it. This is precisely why currently the special operation on defending Donbass, on the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine is being conducted," the official said.

Medvedev was Russia’s president in 2008-2012.