Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that Ukrainian society is split after being forced to choose between Europe and Russia, speaking shortly after Kiev inked the EU association accord.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that Ukrainian society is split after being forced to choose between Europe and Russia, speaking shortly after Kiev inked the EU association accord.
"The anti-constitutional coup in Kiev, the attempts to impose an artificial choice between Europe and Russia have pushed society to a split, to a painful internal confrontation," Putin said in Moscow.
"Ukraine must return to a path towards peace, dialogue and agreement," he said as he received foreign ambassadors in the Kremlin.
"The main thing is to ensure a long-term ceasefire as a necessary condition for holding thorough negotiations between Kiev authorities and representatives of the southeast regions."
"We are sincerely trying to assist in the peace process," Putin added.
Ukraine and Moldova signed key association agreements with the European Union amid Kremlin Objection.
Also on Friday, Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin warned that a deal between Ukraine and the European Union will have “serious consequences.”
"The consequences of the signing by Ukraine and Moldova will certainly be serious," Karasin told the Interfax news agency.
However, he added that "the signing of such a serious document is, of course, a sovereign right of any state."
On his part, Putin's spokesman warned that Russia would act if the accord ended up hurting its economic interests.
"We will take all the necessary measures to protect our economy," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the state ITAR-TASS agency.
Ukrainian former president Viktor Yanukovych's decided to put the trade and political agreement on ice in November.
The ditching of the deal led to Yanukovych's ouster in February, Russia's annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in March following a referendum and a three-month long separatist uprising in eastern Ukraine.
The Kremlin has repeatedly stressed that Kiev cannot expect to pursue cooperation with both Russia and the EU.
