MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Moscow had never opposed Ukraine's potential membership of the European Union, and dismissed claims that Moscow was somehow planning to attack Europe. Putin told Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico at a meeting in China that Western countries and the NATO military alliance were trying to absorb the entire post-Soviet space, and that Russia had no other goals but to protect its interests. (Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Lucy Papachristou; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
