Teona Lavrelashvili, a visiting fellow at the Brussels-based think tank Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies, told DW that the EU obviously did not want to interfere in this matter and would also not make a big deal of it in accession negotiations with Kyiv.

According to Lavrelashvili, the EU evaluates potential member states on the basis of the Copenhagen criteria laid down by the European Council in 1993. These place the main emphasis on stable institutions, democracy, the rule of law, human rights and the protection of minorities, she said.