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West does not perceive Ukraine as sovereign state

MOSCOW, December 19 (Itar-Tass) - The current events inside and around Ukraine are a clear indication the West does not see that country as a sovereign state, the head of Moscow State University's department of world politics, former secretary of Russia's security council, Andrey Kokoshin, told Itar-Tass on Thursday.

“Many West European and U.S. politicians behave as if Ukraine were not a sovereign, independent state, a full-fledged player in international relations,” Kokoshin, a political scientist and specialist in the theory of international law, said.

Kokoshin, a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences in charge of the social sciences department, believes the West’s interference in Ukraine’s internal affairs and actions of some Ukrainian politicians, primarily linked to western Ukraine, were complicating the already tense economic situation in the country. According to Kokoshin, such actions may at some point lead to the country’s break-up.

Besides, the scientist believes, these actions demonstrated an unfriendly attitude to Russia that for many reasons had special relations with the fraternal people of Ukraine. “We have all reasons to be extremely negative about such actions of Western politicians that are against important interests of both Russia and Ukraine,” he believes.

Russia’s utmost interest is in Ukraine’s economic prosperity and political stability, Kokoshin said and evaluate the Russian government’s measures intended to advance Ukraine’s economic development as absolutely justified.

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