Ukraine takes a step toward joining NATO
Russia was furious after the parliament eliminated the country's nonaligned status.
MOSCOW - In a sign of Ukraine's hardening attitude toward Russia, Ukrainian lawmakers on Tuesday voted to remove a legal barrier to joining the NATO defense alliance.
The move provoked an angry response from Russia, even though NATO shows few signs of accepting Ukraine as a member anytime soon. But this year's bloody conflict in Ukraine's east has altered the country's feelings about the Western alliance. A plurality of Ukrainians now favor joining NATO, a stark change from recent years when just a small fraction did.
Ukraine's decision comes as Russia struggles with growing concerns about its economy.
The vote in Ukraine's parliament had no practical effect on the country's relationship with NATO. But it ended Ukraine's nonaligned status, which was adopted as a way of reassuring Russia that its neighbor would not join NATO. Russian President Vladimir Putin cited his fear of Ukraine's joining NATO as a reason Russia annexed Crimea in March.
The proposal to eliminate nonaligned status passed easily, with 303 of the Ukrainian parliament's 450 lawmakers in support. After the vote, legislators stood up and applauded.
"Finally, we corrected a mistake. 303 votes and Ukraine's nonaligned status is out," Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko wrote on Facebook on Tuesday. "There is no alternative to Euro-Atlantic integration. Glory to Ukraine!"
Russian leaders reacted with harsh denunciations, warning Ukraine and NATO that no good could come of the decision.
"This is counterproductive and only escalates confrontations and creates an illusion that by adopting such laws it might be possible to settle a profound domestic crisis in Ukraine," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters in Moscow, the Interfax news agency reported.
He called for dialogue inside Ukraine, where Russian-supported rebels in the east have waged a war that has claimed more than 4,700 lives.
A day earlier, Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev warned on his Facebook page that "application for membership in NATO would turn Ukraine into a potential military adversary for Russia."
A NATO spokesman said Tuesday that "we respect the decision" of the Ukrainian parliament. "Our door is open and Ukraine will become a member of NATO if it so requests and fulfills the standards and adheres to the necessary principles," the spokesman said.