Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.(Reuters / Maxim Shemetov )
The Ukrainian crisis is a natural result of the West’s expansion of its influence eastwards at the expense of Russian interests, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said. This stance ruins a historic chance for a unified continent.
The turbulence in Ukraine is reminiscent of the violence and bloodshed that Europe experienced in the 20th century, Lavrov told a security conference in Moscow.
“The European continent, which brought two global military catastrophes in the last century, is not demonstrating an example to the world of peaceful development and broad cooperation,” he said, adding that the situation wasn’t accidental, but rather “a natural result of the developments over the past quarter of a century.”
“Our Western partners rejected a truly historic chance to build a greater Europe in favor of border lines and the habitual logic of expanding the geopolitical space under their control to the East,” Lavrov stressed.“This is de facto a continuation of a policy of containing Russia in a softer wrapping.”
The West ignored Russia’s calls for cooperation and would not pursuit a challenge of bringing together different integration projects in Eurasia. Instead it was forcing nations historically close to Russia to choose between the East and the West.
Pro-Russian activists stand near an armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) that they said was captured from the Ukrainian army during a fight outside the eastern Ukrainian town of Lysychansk May 22, 2014.(Reuters / Valentyn Ogirenko)
Source: http://rt.com/news/160940-lavrov-security-west-expansion/
International Observatory of Ukrainian Crisis 