Ukraine's Attempt to Join NATO poses danger to European security: Russia Warns

Just a day after Ukraine's parliament renounced the country's neutral status so as to join the NATO, Russia warned Thursday that this pursuit of Ukraine poses danger to European security and also threatened to cut its remaining ties to the Atlantic military alliance.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the West was using Ukraine's bid to join the Atlantic alliance as a mode to push for confrontation between Russia and Ukraine, Reuters reports.

Ukraine's renunciation of its 'non-aligned' status in order to join NATO has irked Russia and deepened the worst confrontation between Russia and the West post the end of the Cold War.

"There are a few Western countries that want to maintain the crisis in Ukraine and to maintain and boost the confrontation between Ukraine and Russia, including through provocative efforts towards membership in the Atlantic alliance. The very idea of Ukraine's efforts to join NATO are dangerous, not only for Ukrainian people, because there is no unity over that issue, it is dangerous for European security," Lavrov said, speaking on state television.

According to the Associated Press, a NATO official said that it was completely up to Ukraine to decide on its foreign policy.

"Should Ukraine decide to apply for Nato membership, Nato will assess its readiness to join the alliance in the same way as with any candidate. This is an issue between Nato and the individual countries aspiring to membership," the official said, The Telegraph reports.

Meanwhile, the representatives from Ukraine and pro-Russian separatists have ended "difficult" talks aimed at ending the disturbance that began in April and has claimed as many as 4,700 lives. The two parties have not reached an agreement till now and have not even decided on a date for the next round of talks.