Russia views provisions of new EU plan for Ukrainian conflict settlement as unacceptable - Foreign Ministry

MOSCOW. Oct 31 (Interfax) - Moscow views provisions of the new EU plan for settling the Ukrainian conflict as unacceptable and an ultimatum to Russia, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said.

"Even a cursory glance at the draft is enough to make an unambiguous conclusion - neither European capitals nor Kiev are thinking about a just and lasting peaceful resolution of the Ukrainian crisis," Zakharova said in response to a media question published on the Russian Foreign Ministry website.

"The Europeans have tried to dilute their unacceptable 'proposals' to Russia, which look like an ultimatum in many ways, with provisions creating an illusion of taking Russian interests into consideration," she said.

"The inclusion in the plan, moreover that in its final provisions, of the clause on 'enhancing mutual understanding and respect for the diversity of languages, cultures and religions' looks even more cynical. There is no mention of Kiev's scrapping its legislative restrictions on using the Russian language in various spheres of life, cancelling measures that infringe the rights of ethnic minorities, and ending the persecution of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church," Zakharova said.

She called the approach, on which the plan is based, situational, and said that it showed the European Union and Kiev "are not prepared to work on eliminating the root causes of the conflict."

"It is impossible to achieve a final and lasting settlement without stopping this discriminative policy. Still, the authors of this 'plan' do not set this goal. What's important to them is to prevent the launch of a real peace process to take lawful interests of Russia and Ukraine's Russian-speaking population into account and to help restore balance in security in Europe and the world at large," Zakharova said.