RIA Novosti: Ukraine’s non-aligned status very important, good for Kiev – Russia’s Lavrov

(RIA Novosti – Moscow, November 19, 2014) Ukraine’s non-aligned status is important for ensuring Euro-Atlantic security and is in the interests of the Ukrainians themselves, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said at a [joint] news conference with his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto.

“There is no doubt that the non-aligned status (of Ukraine – RIA Novosti) is fundamentally important not just from the perspective of efforts to ensure stability in the Euro-Atlantic area, but also from the perspective of the Ukrainian state’s fundamental, national interests,” Lavrov said.

[“Those figures in the current Ukrainian leadership who advocate the rejection of the non-aligned status are essentially not hiding that they need this in order to resolve the problem of the south-east by force and subsequently fight, as they say, against Russia as the main adversary,” Lavrov added, according to RIA Novosti at 1408 gmt.]