MOSCOW, November 19 (RIA Novosti) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov criticized the European Union on Tuesday for exerting what he said was unfair political pressure on fomer Soviet states deciding whether to join the bloc.
Lavrov said “some representatives of the European Union” were forcing countries of the Eastern Partnership states to choose between closer ties with Russia or European states.
“They [European officials] say: you have to make a choice, but the choice should be in favor of the EU," he said "Either back to the dark past or with us [EU] to a bright future,” Lavrov told reporters on Tuesday.
Moscow has repeatedly accused the EU of conducting a policy of dissuading Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine and other former Soviet republics from closer ties with Russia.
Ukraine is close to signing a landmark free trade deal with the EU that would rule out closer economic ties with Moscow. Russia has pitched its Customs Union with Belarus and Kazakhstan to Kiev and other former Soviet states, and warned Ukraine it will lose existing trade privileges if the EU deal goes through.
