Russia sees no tragedy in neighbors’ integration with EU — Lavrov

MOSCOW, May 20. /TASS/. Russia is ready to search for a balance of interests in integration processes, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told parliamentarians of the upper house of parliament on Wednesday.

"We don’t see our neighbors’ bid to develop ties with the European Union as a tragedy, but of course in order to see these processes develop positively, it is necessary that they don’t damage Russia’s interests," he said.

"The only thing we insist on is that these processes be open, having no hidden agenda, that they fully meet the open and honestly presented by us legitimate national interests of Russia," he said. "We are ready to harmonize these processes and look for a balance of interests," Lavrov added.

"The problem with the Ukrainian crisis emerged because Ukraine started rapprochement with the European Union in the situation when the European Union was categorically rejecting our arguments about a need to coordinate a zone of free trade that Ukraine wanted to create with the EU with Kiev’s commitments on the free trade zone within the framework of the Commonwealth of Independent States," the top diplomat said.