Interfax: EU countries’ reaction to Ukraine’s refusal to sign association agreement with EU is “hysteria” – Lavrov

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KYIV. Dec 5 (Interfax) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has called the Western countries’ reaction to Ukraine’s refusal to sign an association agreement with the EU “hysteria.”

“This situation is connected to some Europeans’ hysteria, which was caused by the fact that Ukraine exercised its sovereign right in deciding not to sign an agreement that Ukrainian experts and the administration found unprofitable at this stage,” Lavrov told reporters at the ministerial meeting of the OSCE held in Kyiv on Thursday.

“Our position is very simple: to sign this agreement or not is a sovereign choice that should be made by Ukraine,” Lavrov said.

“We will evaluate the consequences of this choice for us and, naturally, draw conclusions, if need be, depending on Ukraine’s choice,” Lavrov said.

“If we remove everything that is extraneous and emotional from these statements made by the West, which border on disrespect, we see that the West says that the signing of such an agreement is a sovereign choice,” Lavrov said.

“Do you feel the difference?” he asked.

Responding to a request to comment on the current political crisis in Ukraine, Lavrov said: “It’s the sovereign choice of Ukraine, and we oppose any unauthorized actions violating the current legislation, we want everything to happen in accordance with the Constitution.”

“We support steps aimed at bringing this situation into the constitutional field,” Lavrov said.

“It is surprising, to put it mildly, to shout that we are backing the peaceful protests against your decision not to join our economic structure,” Lavrov said.

Lavrov said he is convinced that the OSCE members should work on creating provisions governing the creation of a unified economic and humanitarian space instead.

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