RIA Novosti: West Advancing Dividing Lines Toward Russian Borders – Lavrov

Sergei Lavrov file photo

MOSCOW, April 25 (RIA Novosti) – The West is not only maintaining dividing lines in Europe, but is moving them toward Russian borders, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday.

He said that Russia’s strategic goal is to create a single economic and humanitarian space from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, in which all countries in the European Union could exist and mutually cooperate.

“All of the countries that will be participants in the Eurasian integration process as well as other countries that are located in that space. Then there won’t be any unnecessary competition, no ‘divisional lines,’ which some of our partners in the West are not just trying to keep, but moving them closer to our borders,” Lavrov said at a CIS Youth Diplomats Forum.

In an English-language interview with the RT TV channel Wednesday, Lavrov said the visit of US Vice President Joseph Biden to Kiev and the subsequent restart of a military operation against protesters demonstrated Washington’s control over the actions of Ukrainian authorities.

US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki denied the allegations. On Thursday, US President Barack Obama said the United States and its allies are ready to impose tougher sanctions on Russia if the situation in Ukraine continues to escalate. US Secretary of State John Kerry said Friday that Russia will pay a high price for its policy on Ukraine and ignoring the Geneva agreements.

The US and EU earlier imposed targeted sanctions against Moscow over its reunification with Crimea, a former region of Ukraine that held a referendum in March in which 96 percent of population voted for integration with Russia. Moscow has repeatedly stated that the language of sanctions is “inappropriate and counterproductive.”

 

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