Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said Russia applauded Ukraine's successful prevention of bloodshed when tensions escalated in the country, the Interfax news agency reported on Monday.

"We have never stated that we are not ready to work with those elected by the Ukrainian people," said Lavrov in an interview withGermany's Handelsblatt newspaper.

He noted "We have always underscored the need to avoid interfering in Ukraine's internal affairs and allow the Ukrainiansto make their own decisions in compliance with their Constitution and laws without any calls for violence, pressure and intimidation."

Commenting on the statements made by a number of western politicians that Ukraine should be with the West, Lavrov stressed that "firstly, nobody has the right to make any decisions for Ukraine and, secondly, Ukraine is a neighbor of both the EU and Russia, geographically and geo-politically," adding "The EU will hardly benefit from attempts to make Ukraine sever its ties with any of its neighbors."

The Russian minister views the opinion of some western politicians as a desire to isolate Russia, saying "Of course, thismay have a negative effect on the United Europe concept, which we and our EU and NATO partners support."

At the same time, Lavrov has denied rumors that Russia allegedly plans to send its military contingent to Iraq.

"This is nonsense. Nobody has never thought or spoken about it.The situation there calls for some measures. But these steps should primarily be centered on launching a dialogue inside the country (Iraq) and moving toward national accord and reconciliation," Lavrov said in the interview.

He expressed hope to take certain steps in order to open a dialogue inside the country. "Otherwise, it will be very difficultto receive at least one chance to restore order (in Iraq) ahead ofthe elections," Lavrov said.