Russia warns of end to EU over Ukraine accession

Moscow claims that Ukraine's ideology is incompatible with the bloc's stated values.

A decision by Brussels to initiate the process of Ukraine s accession to the EU would signify the end of the 27-member bloc, Russia s deputy foreign minister Alexander Glushko has warned.

Glushko told reporters on Friday that Ukraine is a state where Nazi groups rule the show and Nazi ideology reigns, which is incompatible with European values.

If Brussels welcomed such a country, it would mean the end of the EU and show that the EU isn't guided by the values it stands and was created, but purely by geopolitics, he explained.

The bloc has accelerated moves aimed at making Kiev a member after the launch of the Russian military operation in late February.

The government of Volodymyr Zelensky has submitted a membership questionnaire to the European Commission, which is expected to announce its opinion in June.

Russia had initially said it wouldn't object to Ukraine being in the EU as it is not a military bloc unlike the US-led NATO alliance.

Russia's foreign minister Sergey Lavrov revealed on Friday that Moscow has changed its position on the issue.

The EU's behavior during the conflict, including weapons shipments to Kiev and a push for a military solution, indicated that the bloc was in the process of merging with NATO and in the future will operate as merely its extension, Lavrov claimed.

He said that the EU is turning from the constructive economic platform that it was originally meant to be into an aggressive militant player that has ambitions that extend beyond the European continent.