Ukraine, Moldova granted candidate status by EU

• Russia shows weakness in its protest.
• Ukraine and Moldova were granted candidate status by the EU.
• Russian FM said it was a geopolitical attempt.

Russia’s protests over the EU’s decision to provide candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova demonstrate Moscow’s weakness, Ukraine’s top diplomat said on Saturday.

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“After decades of lost policies based on aggression, coercion and lack of respect, all that Russia can do now is to spit threats against other states,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter. “All it does is show Russia’s weakness.”

“We are by the side of the government and the people of our friend Moldova in the face of renewed threats coming from Moscow,” he said.

Ukraine and Moldova were granted official candidate status by the European Union on Thursday.

Russia’s foreign ministry slammed the decision as a geopolitical attempt to “contain Russia” on Friday.

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Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement that the decision “confirms that a geopolitical monopolization of the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) space is continuing actively in order to contain Russia.”