You're reading: Poroshenko says Russia trying to split Europe

LEIDEN – President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has stressed that Russia is making every effort to split Europe.

“Many think that as soon as the situation in Ukraine calms down, the situation in Europe will be brought back to normal. Nevertheless, taking into consideration moods in Russia, this looks like mistaking a wish for reality,” the president said while delivering a speech at Leiden University (the Netherlands) on Nov. 27.

According to him, Russia aggression in Crimea and Donbas “formed a new European split. This is a split between the people, where the presidents have been elected and became ‘elected.’ This is a split between those [countries] which have free media and those [countries] where state propaganda works. This is a split between those who respect human rights and those who violate them,” Poroshenko said.

“We’re not talking about Russia or the West concerning their plans for Europe, Russia just has different plans regarding Europe. West wants a sphere of trust, Russia wants a sphere of influence,” Poroshenko.