Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Russia has “nothing” for Ukraine’s eventual membership in the European Union (EU), after the European Commission recommended that Ukraine be granted candidate status amid the offensive.
Putin, St. “We are not against it, joining economic unions is a sovereign decision (…) This is your business, it is the business of the Ukrainian people,” he said at the plenary session of the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg.
“Unlike NATO, the EU is not a military alliance,” he continued, referring to the US-led transatlantic defense pact that Kiev hopes to join.
Ordering a military intervention in Ukraine on February 24, Putin insisted that “When it comes to economic integration, the choice is theirs”, citing the need to protect the Russian-speaking minority in the east from “neo-Nazis” as a government. from Kiev.
However, Putin also said that if Ukraine is accepted into the EU, it will become a “semi-colonial” of Western countries. “This is my opinion,” he said.
Hours ago, Russian diplomacy accused the EU of manipulating Ukraine in hopes of membership.
“Western countries have been manipulating the idea of some form of Ukrainian involvement in integration structures for years, and Ukraine has gone bad since then,” said Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry.
source: Noticias
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