Ukraine plans to renounce non-aligned status aim to disrupt political dialogue - Lavrov
MOSCOW. Sept 4 (Interfax) - The Kyiv authorities' intention to revise Ukraine's non-aligned status derails the efforts toward peacefully settling the conflict in the southeastern part of the country, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
"Right at the moment while approaches are being explored to start resolving the concrete problem between Kyiv and the militias, the Kyiv authorities aired the demand on discarding the non-aligned status and starting accession to NATO. This is a sure attempt to derail all efforts aimed at arranging a dialogue with the aim of ensuring national security," Lavrov said at a meeting with the Council of Europe secretary general on Thursday.
The Russian minister urged other countries to stop provoking such approaches and continue work toward a peaceful resolution of the conflict.
"It is necessary to curb such attempts, stop provoking such approaches from abroad, and work together toward the same goal, that is, ensure national unity in Ukraine," Lavrov said.
At the same time, Lavrov stressed that Russia wants the Ukrainian people to win in this conflict, while some Western countries wish for a NATO victory.
"Some of our Western partners, including the most influential United States, want NATO to win and to have a situation in which America dictates its will to everyone. This exceptionalist philosophy that President Obama has repeatedly declared won't make and already hasn't made any good," he said.
Ukraine declared a course toward Euro-Atlantic integration along with closer ties with the European Union in 2005, immediately after President Viktor Yushchenko came to power. The NATO summit in Bucharest in 2008 was a milestone in Ukraine's NATO membership drive, as it expected to be granted a Membership Action Plan at it. However, the NATO members decided not to grant this plan to Ukraine, arguing that its population was not properly prepared for this step.
In 2010, the Ukrainian parliament passed a bill entitled On the Principles of Domestic and Foreign Policies, which was submitted to the parliament by then-President Viktor Yanukovych. The document declared the non-bloc status of Ukraine and the Euro-Atlantic integration policies were removed from it.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk had said on August 29 that the Cabinet submitted legislation on renouncing Ukraine's non-aligned status to the parliament. "In line with the National Security and Defense Council decision, the Ukrainian government submitted legislation to the parliament on renouncing the Ukrainian state's non-aligned status and resuming Ukraine's course toward NATO membership," he said.
The adoption of the bill would mean that Ukraine would be forbidden to become a member of either the Customs Union or the Eurasian Union, he said.
The Ukrainian Cabinet of ministers approved a bill on renouncing Ukraine's non-aligned status and resuming a course toward Euro-Atlantic integration on Wednesday, and now the Verkhonva Rada is supposed to pass the legislation.
"This legislation should be passed by the parliament," Yatsenyuk said at a government session on Wednesday.