VIENNA, December 28. /TASS/. Austria prioritizes the European integration of the Western Balkans and doubts the timeliness of launching negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU, Russia’s ambassador to Austria Dmitry Lyubinsky has told TASS.

"Austrian foreign policy has always paid great attention to the situation in the Western Balkans. In almost all foreign policy speeches, the outlook for their accession to the EU is high on the agenda. In this regard, the forces within the government coalition are skeptical about the timeliness of the decision to start negotiations with Ukraine," Lyubinsky said.

He noted there were no reasons to speculate about Ukraine's imminent accession even though a decision had been made to start relevant negotiations. Some countries, he remarked, have had the status of candidates for ten or more years, while their eventual accession was not preordained.

On December 14, the EU leaders in Brussels decided to begin accession talks with Ukraine and Moldova - in March 2024 or later. Georgia was granted the status of a candidate for accession.

Earlier, the Minister for the EU and Constitution at the Office of the Austrian federal chancellor, Karoline Edtstadler, said that Ukraine and Moldova were unlikely to join the EU in the next 5-10 years. Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg repeatedly said that Europe should not put the accession of the Western Balkan countries to the EU on the back burner because of Ukraine.