Russia: Europe needs a united and independent position towards Ukraine - Lavrov

SOT, Sergei Dorenko, journalist (Russian): "Related to this - don't you see the process that the Americans are restricting the Germans in participating in this union which looks so organic to you?" SOT, Sergei Lavrov, Foreign Minister of Russia (Russian): "Restricting something to Germany is probably difficult. This would be a national shame for the Germans. I don't think they want to follow restrictions. But the Americans are doing all they can to prevent Russia and Germany from approaching." SOT, Sergei Dorenko, journalist (Russian): "Minsk is a process that is unfortunately limping. We understand that it's the Americans who make it limp. Do you know how long they will make it limp? As long as they want - if they want it to limp to years, it will be two years; if they want ten years it will be ten. SOT, Sergei Lavrov, Foreign Minister of Russia (Russian): "Neither ten nor two years will work out for them. Because the Ukrainian government is in a very fragile state and sustaining it in this state means risking its failure. I think the Americans understand that." The European Union should conduct a policy towards Ukraine which serves their own interests rather than obeying orders "from oversees" meaning the United States, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said as he spoke to renowned journalists Sergei Dorenko (Moscow Speaks), Margarita Simonyan (RT, Rossiya Segodnya) and Alexei Venediktov (Echo of Moscow) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Moscow, Wednesday. Lavrov added that an open partnership between Germany and Russia could galvanise the European Union. When asked whether the US is restricting Germany, Lavrov negated the idea, saying that in his opinion the Germans are too proud to follow restrictions from oversees. Russia's top diplomat also stated that both Minsk agreements were achieved due to Vladimir Putin's diplomatic efforts, noting that if the former opposition of the Yanukovych government hadn't overthrown the government in a coup, everything would have worked out fine for Ukraine - without thousands of deaths, profitable economic relations between Russia and Ukraine and without Yanukovych, who would have lost the next elections. However, Lavrov expressed confidence that the Minsk agreements will work their way even if the United States will try to slow down the implementation. Wednesday's interview was the first time that Lavrov has engaged in such a question and answer session. He usually speaks to the international press and provides an end of year press conference. The format of Wednesday's interview not only is a more open discursive platform, but also opened up to social media users who were able to field questions using the #askLavrov hashtag.