MOSCOW, November 25 (Sputnik) — The current crisis in Ukraine has become an excuse for attempts on a grand scale to isolate Russia for the express purpose of international political destabilization, Sergei Naryshkin, speaker of the State Duma, the lower house of Russian parliament, said Tuesday.
"The crisis in Ukraine has turned into an excuse for unprecedented attempts to isolate Russia rather than a lever to activate political dialogue,” Naryshkin said at the international round table "Ways to overcome the crisis of confidence in Europe." He added that those behind these attempts are “interested in destabilizing the international situation and in [creating] a new security crisis in Europe.”
"Sure, the politicians of different countries are seeing what is going on in Ukraine in different ways. But are the authorities of individual states ready to clarify positions in an equitable and mutually respectful dialogue? Regrettably they are not," Naryshkin said.
The Russian politician also noted that opportunities for international cooperation are decreasing at a time when the world must unite to deal with more serious threats like terrorism, drug trafficking and international crime.
Lies, propaganda and especially the selective information campaigns, to which countries have resorted to for the first time in decades, are also impeding international cooperation, according to Naryshkin.
Relations between Russia and the West have deteriorated in the wake of the Ukrainian crisis, as European and US leaders blame Moscow for meddling in Ukrainian affairs – a claim that Russia has repeatedly denied.
