“France’s Decision Is Bad for Russia"

France’s decision is bad for Russia, because if had accepted the Constitution, the number of negotiators with which Russia would have to deal with would have been reduced to the minimum. The European Union would have had a unified and consolidated policy about a great number of internal and external matters. To come to an agreement with the European Union, our minister of foreign relations would have been able to dial a single telephone number and meet with a single person: the person responsible for directing EU foreign relations.
The consequences of this referendum will clarify the reality of the current political process in Europe. That process can only continue if it responds to the interests of all countries. At the moment, France is demonstrating that investment in workforce integration is not always profitable. The new members, our neighbors in particular, will understand that European integration is not so simple. The political elites of those countries will be better able to evaluate the perspectives, risks and limits of European construction. The result of the vote in France will make them to stop seeing everything in rose colors and cause their dreams to disappear. They themselves must reach their own conclusions, Moscow should not influence that.