15:34 25.01.2017

Russia doing its utmost to weaken EU

2 min read
Russia doing its utmost to weaken EU

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said that Russian leaders are doing everything in their power to weaken and divide European Union member state countries.

"Who does not benefit from EU bloc membership? France benefits, as does Germany and the UK, even despite Brexit, as does Finland and the Finns. Russia is attempting to weaken the EU. Putin wants to dissolve trust in the bloc and to divide the EU in order to exert influence on EU member states individually," the Ukrainian president said in an interview with the Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat.

The Ukrainian head of state said he is upset with the current development of the situation in the EU.

"They say Putin believes the USSR was the biggest tragedy of the 1990s," Poroshenko said. "For me, it would be a tragedy if the EU collapsed."

Poroshenko said the Finns understand perfectly well what is taking place in eastern Ukraine because they themselves survived the so-called "winter war" [with Russia].

"Mannerheim [a Finnish leader and statesman] united the people of Finland. We are confident of our position in the situation with Russia, despite the fact that Russia's army is much more powerful than our own. We are capable of defending our state, our own European values. This is why Mannerheim is popular in Ukraine as well," Poroshenko said.

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