May 11 referendums should be treated as signals of deep Ukraine statehood crisis - Russian Foreign Ministry
MOSCOW. May 13 (Interfax) - Moscow believes that the May 11 referendums held in Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions should be treated a signal confirming the presence of a deep crisis in Ukraine.
"The referendums recently held in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine should be perceived as a clear signal to Kyiv indicating a deep crisis of mutual understanding, [a crisis] of Ukraine's own statehood in the broad sense of the word," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement following a meeting of Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin and head of the European Union Delegation to Russia Vygaudas Usackas.
The Official Journal of the European Union published on May 12 the extended list of 13 persons and two Crimean companies subject to targeted sanctions against Russia over the Ukrainian crisis.
"Grigory Karasin described the EU's continuing sanctions policy in relation to Russia as an outdated, overused approach that fails to help resolve serious political problems, but only serves to further deepen disagreements and hampers the joint search for a way out of the really critical situation in Ukraine," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.