MOSCOW, December 15. /TASS/. The EU’s decision to launch accession talks on Ukraine and Moldova and grant Georgia candidate status is all politics, made not for Europe's benefit but merely to antagonize Russia, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

"These are, of course, absolutely the sovereign affairs of Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova. Yet the politicized nature of this decision is immediately evident. Since, if one thinks strictly practically, accounting for pragmatic reasons and the necessity to correspond to criteria (for EU accession - TASS), there is nothing to talk about," the Kremlin official said. "Regrettably, every time this desire to display such political will occurs, it mostly aims to spite Russia further and set these countries against Russia," Peskov stressed.

Earlier, the EU made a decision to begin talks on accepting Ukraine and Moldova into the union and on granting candidate status to Georgia. A source in EU institutions told journalists that "the decision of the European Council on this issue received no objections from any European country."

Accession talks do not set particular deadlines for acceptance to the EU. For instance, talks on Turkey’s accession began in 2005 and their conclusion is not expected any time soon.