Lavrov said Ukrainians start understanding that the country should abandon the model of being controlled from abroad

VLADIMIR, August 24. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has criticized Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s statement that Russians are not brothers to Ukrainians.

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"When President Poroshenko says that ‘Russians are not brother to Ukrainians’, is it friendly?" Lavrov told the youth forum "Territory of meanings on the Klyazma" on Monday. The foreign minister offered to try to find in any Russian media negative assessment of Ukrainians. "We are concerned about opposite actions of Ukraine’s leadership who want to change the genetic code of Ukrainians. This will not happen," Lavrov said. "I have many Ukrainian friends. We still meet and talk. I am confident that people’s wisdom will prevail," he stressed. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said earlier that Ukrainian "has no brotherly nations during the war." "There is one Ukrainian nation that looks toward Europe and the Russian nation that is in deep crisis," he said.

More Ukrainians unwilling to live under foreign control Lavrov said Ukrainians start understanding that the country should abandon the model of being controlled from abroad. "I think that there is more understanding in Ukraine among people that one cannot live constantly under foreign control," Lavrov told the event called Territory of Meanings on the Klyazma. "We never had and can have any negative feelings against the Ukrainian people," he added. Lavrov slammed Kiev’s move earlier this month to ban 38 books by Russian authors, historians and journalists for being anti-Ukrainian. Ukraine also imposed a ban on a number of Russian movies. In addition, the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture compiled a list of Russian actors, singers and other cultural figures who have been blacklisted because their actions "pose a threat to national security." Lavrov said this step is aimed at shaping public opinion in Ukraine, but this is unlikely to be successful.

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