Member of European Parliament's mission and former Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski has said that European Union didn't take into consideration the Russian factor in the negotiations with Ukraine concerning Association Agreement.
In an interview with Polish television’s TVN24, Kwasniewski said that EU ignored something that had been evident for many years.
“For Putin, for Russia, it is absolutely principal to use all methods to keep Kyiv, because Ukraine is necessary as a component of the Customs Union and Eurasian Union, which is the Putin’s goal,” Kwasniewski said.
According to him, Europeans “for a very long time lived believing that Ukrainians’ aspirations are so strong that there was no other possible option,” the politician added.
The ex-Polish president said that for EU it was a mistake to one-sidedly concentrate on the release of Yulia Tymoshenko.
“From the other side, European Union is a organization of values. People, who want to see justice, couldn’t agree with a politically motivated court,” the politician said.
However, the official said that “EU hasn’t given up in the case of Ukraine and is looking for an extra plan.
“I’m warning against abandoning the whole case…It would be wise of the EU to analyze the situation now and find tools that could persuade the Ukrainians,” he said.
He spoke of the importance of returning to negotiations with Ukraine and to deciding what the EU could offer Ukraine.
According to Kwasniewski, money for Ukraine worth “over 10, maybe, 20 billion euros is acceptable for the EU, which granted much more to Greece – hundreds of billions euros.”
