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The bloc is morphing into an extension of NATO, so the prospect of Kiev’s membership is now regarding, Moscow says
Moscow has revised its stance on Ukraine’s bid to affix the European Union as a result of the as soon as purely financial group has change into a purveyor of hostile insurance policies with a world outreach, Russian International Minister Sergey Lavrov mentioned on Friday.
He was explaining why his nation which had beforehand been amenable to the prospect of Ukraine changing into a member of the bloc, has now made a U-turn on the problem. Lavrov mentioned Kiev’s accession might pose a better threat to Moscow than beforehand believed.
“The EU is popping from the constructive financial platform that it was initially meant to be into an aggressive militant participant that has ambitions stretching far past the European continent,” mentioned the international minister.
Lavrov cited rhetoric utilized by European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen throughout her go to to Japan earlier this week. She praised Tokyo for siding with Western nations which have imposed financial sanctions on Russia over its navy operation in Ukraine, and expressed a want for the EU to play a extra lively position within the Indo-Pacific area.
Von der Leyen described Russia as “essentially the most direct risk to the world order,” saying its shut relationship with China and each nations’ opposition to the US and its allies was “worrying.”
“Just like the European Union, Japan understands what’s at stake right here. Not simply Ukraine’s future. Not simply Europe’s future. However the way forward for a rules-based world order,” she mentioned.
Moscow and Beijing say this phrase, popularized by the US, describes Western dominance in worldwide relations, which they declare is imposed by coercion on the expense of everybody. it additionally runs opposite to worldwide regulation.
As a substitute, the 2 nations advocate a multilateral world group of equals.
The EU “follows within the footsteps of NATO,” Lavrov said in the course of the press convention. The 2 entities are within the means of merging, he claimed, and sooner or later the EU will function as merely an extension of the US-led navy bloc.
Lavrov was talking in Tajikistan after a gathering of the international ministers of a number of former Soviet republics. The summit was hosted by the Commonwealth of Unbiased States, a post-Soviet regional integration group.
Russia attacked its neighboring state in late February, following Ukraine’s failure to implement the phrases of the Minsk agreements, first signed in 2014, and Moscow’s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. The German- and French-brokered protocols had been designed to provide the breakaway areas particular standing throughout the Ukrainian state.
The Kremlin has since demanded that Ukraine formally declare itself a impartial nation that can by no means be a part of the US-led NATO navy bloc. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was utterly unprovoked and has denied claims it was planning to retake the 2 republics by pressure.
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