Russian protests over Ukraine, Moldova EU bids show weakness: Kyiv

Russia’s protests over the EU giving Ukraine and Moldova candidate status show Moscow’s weakness, Ukraine’s top diplomat said on Saturday.

“After decades of lost policies based on aggression, coercion and lack of respect, all that Russia can do now is to spit threats against other states,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter. “All it does is show Russia’s weakness.”

“We are by the side of the government and the people of our friend Moldova in the face of renewed threats coming from Moscow,” he said.

The European Union on Thursday said it was granting official candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova.

Russia’s foreign ministry on Friday condemned the decision as a move to “contain Russia” geopolitically.

The decision “confirms that a geopolitical monopolization of the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) space is continuing actively in order to contain Russia,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement.