Russia's lower house of parliament, the State Duma, Wednesday slammed Ukraine's plans to join NATO and expressed concern over recent events in the country's largely Russian-speaking south.
But Anton Buteiko said the Duma statement was irrelevant, because "The Russian parliament had no grounds to issue such statements," and said the statement was political motivated.
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.
Buteiko said Russia did not officially regard the North Atlantic Alliance as a hostile organization and, accordingly, it should not consider Ukraine's accession to NATO "as a threat to Russia's security."
Earlier Russian lawmakers suggested Ukraine's accession to NATO could jeopardize bilateral relations with its former Soviet neighbor.
"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," the Duma said in a letter to Ukraine's parliament, the Supreme Rada.
Deputies also said that, in addition to the large number of Russian-speaking people who live in Crimea, Russia's Black Sea Fleet was stationed in the region under intergovernmental agreements.
