Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman: "I no longer feel brotherhood with the Ukrainian people"
Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said that she could no longer feel like Ukrainians were brothers, despite the shared history between the two countries.
"I, for example, myself, as an individual, no longer feel fraternal ties with the Ukrainian people...", Ms. Zakharova said on the Echo of Moscow radio station.
According to her, the situation in Ukraine is very complex and dramatic in the current historical context. She stressed that the upcoming second round of presidential elections will still be "the choice of the Ukrainian people - that is, Ukrainian citizens elect their own president, and the profession of the candidate will not affect this choice." At the same time, Ms. Zakharova recalled the last presidential election in Ukraine, which took place in 2014 after the "EuroMaidan" events (pro-European Union protests in Ukraine in 2013).
"The main thing is the unity of society. Remember the 2014 elections. Today, people ask – to recognize or not? ... Everything, including Russia in those years, in my opinion, the only thing was to lend money to Kiev to build its government. In 2014, Poroshenko won the elections - then you don't need (or can) talk about violations, then you just have to turn around and say: have you chosen? Have you forgotten the expressions we use? The question for us is about opportunities, about loans to Ukraine as a country, with all the expressions about a brotherly people," she added.
The Ukrainian presidential election is being held on March 31. According to the CEC (Central Election Commission of Ukraine), none of the candidates received the required number of votes to win in the first round. The second round will be held on April 21. It will be contested by the first-round leader, Vladimir Zelensky, and the current President, Petro Poroshenko.
