ST. PETERSBURG, February 15. /TASS/: Brussels’ enabling crude violations of rights of Russian-speaking people and attacks on the Russian language and culture shows that the European Union is drifting away from everything linked to Russia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Monday following talks with his Finnish counterpart Pekka Haavisto.
"Of course, we cannot but take into account the EU condoning blatant breaches of Russian speakers, Russians, and the attacks on the Russian language and culture that we witness in the Baltic States, Ukraine and some other countries. When Russian-speaking [TV] channels are shut down, when criminal cases are opened against Russian-speaking journalists for simply doing their jobs, when the disgraceful institute of statelessness remains in the EU, while the European Union watches it all without any desire to change anything, I believe that it is not Russia distancing itself from the EU, but the very EU moving away from the Russian language, Russian culture and all things Russian, meaning that it is drifting away from the Russian Federation," the minister noted.
