Lavrov warns West against indulging new Ukrainian authorities
MADRID. March 5 (Interfax) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has warned Western countries against supporting the people who, in his words, have come to power in Ukraine in an unconstitutional manner.
"If we so indulge those who are trying to govern our great and good historical neighbor now, everyone should understand that a bad example is infectious, and it is necessary to be consistent in everything without any double standards," Lavrov said at a press conference following negotiations with Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo in Madrid on Wednesday.
The problems in Ukraine are rooted in the fact that "the international community failed in due time to collectively respond to the anti-governmental protests, which were conducted with gross violations of Ukrainian law by armed people; on the contrary, these protests were supported and even encouraged," he said.
"The hottest phase of this crisis - hottest in a metaphorical sense - started when, in violation of the Ukrainian constitution, power was in fact seized in an violent way, and the legitimately elected president was ousted by methods not envisioned either by the constitution or other laws of Ukraine," Lavrov said.
Garcia-Margallo said at the same press conference that international law and the legal foundations of the Ukrainian state need to be respected.
"A state's territorial integrity and independence should always be respected. Certainly, international law should be honored according to the UN Charter, and also the Helsinki Treaty and the 1997 treaties between Russia and Ukraine," he said.
The Ukrainian constitution stipulates that the country is indivisible and Crimea is part of it, he said.
"The logic of confrontation cannot substitute for the logic of dialogue," he said.
