BAKU, August 6. /TASS/. Russian Security Council Secretary Sergey Shoigu has called on Kiev to stop and think about the cost of the West’s "good offices" for the Ukrainian people.

"It’s time [for Kiev] to think about the cost of the West’s 'good offices' and begin thinking about the interests of its own people," he said. "But, regrettably, we see the opposite happening."

The Europeans "are again hampering any real progress in the Ukrainian settlement by advancing unacceptable initiatives in the spirit of the Copenhagen or Swiss formats," he said. "If the West thinks that it can drag Russia into a long negotiating process and play out a scenario where Moscow gradually loses its initiative on the battlefield, it is sorely mistaken."

According to Shoigu, the situation echoes the 1878 Berlin congress when European powers maneuvered diplomatically to minimize Russia’s achievements after its war with Turkey.

"It looks like their mentality has changed little over these more than hundred years," he added.