Western countries managed to make Ukraine a European state in terms of Nazism, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told TASS.
During the Munich Security Conference, Finnish President Alexander Stubb said that Russian leader Vladimir Putin wanted to make Ukraine Russian, but now it has become European:
"I don't know what Stubb means by the word European. If they accept that Europe is synonymous with Nazism, which has repeatedly manifested itself there, then perhaps they have managed to make Ukraine European - Nazi, judging by Zelensky's statements. Russia has never had aspirations to disrespect Ukraine's sovereignty. We have always treated Ukraine as a sovereign, independent state," she commented.
Zakharova pointed out that Russia has always proceeded from the assumption that it promotes friendly interstate relations with Ukraine, which are "particularly close, but also sovereign".
"We established diplomatic relations immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union and exchanged embassies. Special figures were always appointed as ambassadors to promote strong bilateral relations. We signed all kinds of intergovernmental agreements, including those relating to the navy. Even though we were close neighbors and had a common economy, we traded on the principle of international economic relations. There were many projects that are now called integration projects, but before that they were joint projects," she recalled.
"Russia did not carry out a coup d'état there, did not change the regime, or organize rallies on the Maidan to bring its puppets to power. The West did that. And they handed out cookies, or rather buns, in the form of American diplomats like [Victoria] Nuland. And at the rallies, which should be the exclusive prerogative of the people of this country, ambassadors and foreign ministers from Germany, France, Poland and other Western European countries attended. So do not accuse us of doing what you yourselves are doing," the spokeswoman emphasized.