Mikhail Galuzin, Aug. 28 -- A pause in the fighting means one thing when Moscow declares it and another when Europe suggests it, and the difference is the whole of Russia's position.

to keep Ukraine as a foothold for further confrontation with Russia. He called the approach unacceptable.

He made a second charge alongside it. European Union officials, he said, are cynically proclaiming a Russian threat and the inevitability of a clash within the next few years, while declining to discuss Russia's concerns frankly.

The difficulty is that Galuzin has spent the same month saying something else to a different audience. He told TASS that Russia is always ready for negotiations and open to a negotiated solution if the West brings a mature app...