MOSCOW, October 2. /TASS/. The European Union is using Ukraine and its population as expendable material to inflict maximum material, moral, political and other damage on Russia, Deputy Chairman of the CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration, and Relations with Compatriots Committee of the State Duma (lower house of Russia’s parliament) Alexander Boroday has told TASS.

Brussels considers this strategy toward Ukraine an acceptable price for advancing its own interests, he said.

A day earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the plenary session of the 23rd annual meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club that Russia would like to end the conflict in Ukraine as soon as possible through peaceful negotiations. He stated that the right course would be to avoid further losses on both sides and reach peaceful agreements on Ukraine addressing, among other issues, the Russian language and the Orthodox Church. Russia needs security guarantees and conditions for lasting peace, Putin stressed.

"They do not care in the slightest about the fate of the territory called Ukraine or its population, including Russian people living there. They view both the population and the territory as expendable material. Their main goal is to inflict maximum material, moral, political and every other kind of damage on Russia. To achieve this, they are prepared to expend all of Ukraine and its entire population. They consider that an entirely acceptable price," Boroday said.

The long-term goal of Western political elites that support and seek to prolong the conflict in Ukraine was to bring about Russia’s complete collapse as a state, but they now realize that this objective is unattainable, he said.

"They probably no longer seriously expect Russia to collapse, although they continue to hope that something terrible will happen -- some kind of black swan -- and that Russia will eventually buckle and fall apart after a prolonged confrontation. Of course, they understand that the chances of this are not very high," Boroday concluded.