The EU Observer cites the Atlantic Council for hosting European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso at its two-day “Towards a Europe Whole and Free” conference:
For his part, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso was equally frank in blaming Russia for the unrest.
He told the Atlantic Council, a Washington think tank, on Thursday: “I have no doubts that the goal of [Russian leader] Mr Putin is to have full control of Ukraine … I’m not saying that his goal is necessarily to occupy all Ukraine, but to have full control of Ukraine, that’s his goal, I have absolutely no doubt.”
“In fact, he said it to me, he said several times that an independent Ukraine was an artificial creation of the West,” the EU official added.