You're reading: Yatseniuk: Ukraine not discussing NATO membership prospects

 Ukraine is not discussing NATO membership prospects, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk has said.

 While answering a respective question of journalists after a meeting
with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, which was held in
Brussels on Thursday, he said: “This [membership] is not on our radar.”

He said that Kyiv was insisting on the peaceful crisis settlement, whereas “military options” were not being considered.

“But this Russian government should take a step backward to stabilize
the situation in the region, rather than conduct further escalation in
relations between Russia and Ukraine and the rest of Europe. This is the
responsibility of the Russian leadership. They began this, so they have
to end this,” he said.

Rasmussen also said that a political solution to the crisis was the only way forward.

Yatseniuk also said that he passed an invitation to the North Atlantic alliance to visit Kyiv.