MOSCOW. May 28 (Interfax) - Those who are trying to use Ukraine as a divide between the western and eastern parts of the European continent are pushing this country towards fratricidal war, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
"The people are essentially being pushed into the abyss of a fratricidal war," Lavrov said at a meeting in Moscow.
"The events in Ukraine were catalyzed by the wish to use this country as a divide between the eastern and western parts of the European continent, not as a connecting link between different parts of the Eurasian space, which is its absolutely natural role," he said.
"Those who are conducting these policies were not concerned in the least that the wedge they are trying to drive between different branches of European civilization runs through the people of Ukraine," he said.
"The May 25 presidential elections should help stop the punitive operation and any other violence. They should expand the possibilities for dialogue and resolve all problems solely with peaceful methods while protecting the rights and interests of all regions of Ukraine," the minister said.
Lavrov also said Russia's position on the creation of "the Russian world" is being taken as imperial ambitions.
"The idea of the Russian world promoted by the Russian state and the Russian Orthodox Church has no relation to imperial schemes. We are talking about keeping spiritual and cultural connections between people," the minister said.
"The attempts to erode the principles making up the in-depth foundation of life, denial of moral laws, and their replacement with ultra-liberal permissiveness push society to self-destruction," Lavrov said.