Lavrov says EU, CIS integration compatible

Integration programs within the post-Soviet Commonwealth of
Independent States (CIS) should not be viewed as incompatible with
European integration, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on
Thursday, RIA Novosti reports.

"When our neighbors are openly demanded to decide on whether they are
with Moscow or with Brussels, it draws us back to the ideological
stereotypes of the previous century and contradicts the Russian-EU
agreement on the compatibility of integration processes in the entire
European zone," Lavrov said at a meeting with students and professors
at Moscow State University for International Relations.

"That's why we are surprised by attempts to present integration
programs of CIS states and the European Union as incompatible," he
added.