Moscow ‘will not Turn a Blind Eye’ on NATO Expansion
Russia hopes that the new U.S. administration will not repeat mistakes of its predecessor and explain to the Georgian and Ukrainian authorities “importance of respectful and civilized relations with their neighbors,” Sergey Ryabkov, the Russian deputy foreign minister, said.
He said in an interview with Itar-Tass news agency, posted on the Russian MFA’s website on January 20, that Moscow hoped the new U.S. administration would open “window of opportunity for re-launching” of Russian-U.S. relations after “the last year’s excessive turbulences.”
Ryabkov said that Moscow was not against of the U.S.-Ukrainian and U.S.-Georgia charters for strategic partnerships signed just recently.
“We are not against of the U.S. bilateral cooperation with any of the state and Ukraine and Georgia are not exceptions in this regard,” he said. “At the same time we are not also going to turn a blind eye on a situation, wherein vector of this type of relation have a negative outcome on the Russia’s national security and harms relations of multi-century friendship with the neighboring countries.”
“This fully concerns accelerated integration of Kiev and Tbilisi to NATO, which is anti-Russian project by its essence,” the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister continued. “Its consequences are well-known for everybody: in Ukraine we observe a new wave of destabilization, while the NATO ambitions of the Georgian leadership have turned into a bloody tragedy in South Ossetia.
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