Moscow believes Ukraine should have non-aligned status and insists that there should be no ambiguity on the matter, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
“We are convinced that a new [Ukrainian] constitution should unambiguously stipulate Ukraine’s non-aligned status,” Lavrov said in an interview shown in an analytical program hosted by Sergei Brilyov on Rossiya-1 TV channel on Saturday.
The United States has heard this, “and how it understands this can be seen from their public statements,” Lavrov said. “President Obama said in his remarks in Brussels last week that neither Ukraine nor NATO w as ready for [Ukraine’s accession to NATO] and there was no reason to talk about this,” Lavrov said.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arsen i y Yatsen i uk also said he “so far did not bring up” the issue of Ukraine’s NATO membership, he said.
“We are sure there should be no ambiguity here. There are too many ‘so fars’ and ‘no intentions’. Intentions change, while facts are created on the ground,” Lavrov said.
