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Lavrov slams EU’s rhetoric about Ukraine’s membership as ‘game’

According to Russian Foreign Minister, "all criteria were rejected" when the Society Union was disintegrating

MOSCOW, November 12. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has slammed Europe’s increased rhetoric about Ukraine’s membership in the European Union as a ‘game.’

In an interview with the Moscow.Kremlin.Putin program, fragments of which were released on journalist Pavel Zaburin’s Telegram channel, he said that he is not surprised at such a rhetoric. "This is heard mostly from [European Commission President] Ursula von der Leyen. They are drafting some recommendation, but admit that Ukraine is non-compliant with a larger part of the criteria. Kiev, in the person of Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba, says that they don’t need these criteria and should be admitted without them. I find it difficult to understand. I think that this is a game, the continuation of the policy the European Union has been using after the collapse of the Soviet Union," he said.

According to Lavrov, "all criteria were rejected" when the Society Union was disintegrating. "Decisions on the accession of the Baltic states to the European Union were based solely on political expediency. They had no doubts either. The criteria were not met but political expediency won the upper hand. I wouldn’t be surprised at anything," he added.

He recalled that when Ukraine had adopted laws aimed against national minorities, it caused an outcry in the European Union. "Ukraine made amendments and said that it doesn’t apply to the association’s languages. You be the judge. Back then, we spoke with the Hungarians and other EU members, whose compatriots live in Ukraine, and expressed hope that they would demand exemptions not only for their cultures but would defend all the principles of international law concerning national minorities. So far, we don’t see this. Let us wait and see," he said.

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