If the EU provides Ukraine with a road map to prepare for EU membership, it will mean that the EU is ready to abandon its principles in favor of geopolitical interests, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Thursday, RIA Novosti reported.

"I don't know, if Ukraine is given this roadmap to prepare for membership, it will mean only one thing that the European Union is once again ready to close its eyes to all its criteria, which have always existed for candidates and is ready to be guided exclusively by geopolitical considerations," Lavrov said during his interview with NTV TV channel on the platform of the SPIEF.