MOSCOW. Feb 18 (Interfax) - Moscow has accused the United States of dictating to Ukraine what course to take in its development.
"Once again we state that the United States, under the guise of appeals not to obstruct the free choice of the people of Ukraine, in practice tries to force the 'Western vector' of development on it as 'the only correct one,' dictating the authorities of a sovereign country what to do and how to do it," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in a commentary posted on the ministry's website, www.mid.ru.
"One example of this string-pulling is a statement for the press by Marie Harf, deputy spokesperson for the State Department, of February 14 in which instructions were generously being handed out on further moves the Ukrainian government was to take. Among other things, it was demanded that Kyiv quash any criminal action against participants in the recent riots and immediately start 'the formation of a multiparty technical government.' Casting for the future posts in it was started by the American side well in advance, as far as one can judge by an audio tape posted on YouTube recently," Lukashevich said.
"What such activity leads to is well known from recent historical examples," he said.