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| Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov speaks during a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif in Moscow, August 29, 2014. © REUTERS/ Maxim Zmeyev 09:51 13/10/2014 |
"The Ukrainian crisis has seriously shaken the international situation and it will have a long-term effect. Today it is difficult to predict how things will go in the world, but we can be sure that the future has many surprises in store," Lavrov said in an interview with Moscow State Institute of International Relations’ MGIMO Journal
Russia's top diplomat noted that the developments in Ukraine "were not a manifestation of fundamentally new tendencies, but rather the culmination of a course, which Western partners have been implementing towards Russia for many years."
"A trend of not acknowledging Russians as one of them exists in Western Europe for centuries, despite the fact that for at least the past 300 years we have been an inseparable part of European culture and politics. The periods of Russia's most active participation in European affairs were marked by stability and peace on the continent," Lavrov added.
A military campaign in southeastern Ukraine, which has already claimed almost 3,700 lives, was launched by Kiev in mid-April to suppress independence supporters in the region.
Relations between Russia and the West have deteriorated significantly amid the crisis in Ukraine, as Western politicians and media have repeatedly accused Russia of meddling in Ukraine's internal affairs and aiding independence supporters in the country's southeast.
A number of Western states, including the EU member states, have imposed several rounds of sanctions on Russia over its alleged involvement in the crisis, a claim Moscow has repeatedly denied.
In August, Moscow responded to the sanctions by implementing a one-year ban on certain food imports from the countries that imposed them, namely the European Union, the United States, Canada, Australia and Norway.
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