File Photo: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. (Reuters)
Moscow:
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said today that Ukraine's adoption of a bill to drop its non-aligned status was "absolutely counterproductive".
The move "creates an illusion that through this bill, through an aspiration to drop non-aligned status and join NATO- which Ukrainian politicians openly talk about- one can settle a deep crisis of the Ukrainian state," Lavrov said in televised remarks.
"Instead it's necessary to put an end to confrontation and start an open, all-inclusive dialogue including with those who rejected the anti-constitutional military coup and refused to bow to Kiev," he said in an apparent reference to Moscow-backed rebels.
In February, a popular uprising ousted Moscow-backed leader Viktor Yanukovych, triggering a chain of events that culminated in the seizure of Crimea by Moscow in March and the outbreak of a pro-Russian separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine in April.
Ukraine earlier today took a historic step toward NATO membership, with lawmakers overwhelmingly adopting a bill dropping the country's non-aligned status.
The move "creates an illusion that through this bill, through an aspiration to drop non-aligned status and join NATO- which Ukrainian politicians openly talk about- one can settle a deep crisis of the Ukrainian state," Lavrov said in televised remarks.
"Instead it's necessary to put an end to confrontation and start an open, all-inclusive dialogue including with those who rejected the anti-constitutional military coup and refused to bow to Kiev," he said in an apparent reference to Moscow-backed rebels.
In February, a popular uprising ousted Moscow-backed leader Viktor Yanukovych, triggering a chain of events that culminated in the seizure of Crimea by Moscow in March and the outbreak of a pro-Russian separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine in April.
Ukraine earlier today took a historic step toward NATO membership, with lawmakers overwhelmingly adopting a bill dropping the country's non-aligned status.
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