MOSCOW, June 22. /TASS/. Granting Ukraine and Moldova candidate status to join the European Union looks like nothing more than a scam by the West, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.

"’Scam’ is such a wonderful word, seeing that the numerous decisions taken by the West are more like combination of a destructive, provocative nature, rather than well-thought-out steps," the diplomat said, speaking to the Sputnik radio.

"I think that's certainly their case," she added, "Given these maneuvers, these zigzags that we now are witnessing from the West with regards to Moldova, Ukraine, and Georgia, it is no longer necessary to prove anything in terms of market conditions. There is a direct link between economics and politics. And this is exactly what they have always stood against."

According to Zakharova, it is precisely this contradiction that has led the neoliberal system to a total dead-end. "The neoliberal system is based on a liberal economy, on free trade, first and foremost. Without politics. Nowadays, we see that economic mechanisms are shaped exclusively by political motives. This is a perfect example of the crisis of neoliberalism that we now frequently talk about," the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman stressed.

Last Friday, the European Commission recommended that the European Council (EU summit) grant EU candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova and postpone the question of granting it to Georgia. The decision to grant or deny candidate status will be taken by EU member states’ presidents and prime ministers at a summit in Brussels on June 23-24. They will take into account the European Commission’s recommendations. If the EU summit grants candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova, immediately after that the European Commission will recommend suspending the accession process until each country carries out certain reforms, namely strengthening the judicial system and battling corruption, as well as deoligarchization.