MOSCOW, June 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Foreign Minister said Wednesday that Ukraine or Georgia joining NATO could lead to a colossal shift in global geopolitics.
"We are trying to foresee the consequences of this move, primarily from the viewpoint of Russia's national security and economic interests and relations with these countries," Sergei Lavrov told the State Duma, Russia's lower chamber of parliament.
Georgia and Ukraine have recently been actively seeking to join NATO, a sensitive issue for Russia as some officials said Russia would need to spend considerable sums on reorienting its military capabilities to counter the move.
The State Duma Wednesday also slammed Ukraine's plans to join NATO and expressed concern over recent events in the country's largely Russian-speaking south.
A wave of anti-NATO protests has seized the Crimea, a region on the Black Sea, after a U.S. cargo vessel called at the port of Feodosia in late May ahead of an exercise, Sea Breeze-2006, with the United States. Many assumed the move was part of Kiev's bid to join the North Atlantic alliance.
"With due respect for Ukraine's sovereignty, the deputies of the State Duma cannot but confirm their extremely negative attitude towards such plans and believe that Ukraine's joining NATO contradicts the agreement on friendship, cooperation and partnership between Russia and Ukraine dating from 1997 that states the strategic nature of Russian-Ukrainian relations," a statement from the State Duma to the Ukrainian Parliament, the Supreme Rada, said.
On June 2, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said a new parliamentary coalition should spell out the country's relations with NATO, as the current version of a mooted coalition agreement mentioned a proactive policy on Ukraine's rapprochement with it but not on integration.
