Russia Says Ukraine Joining NATO Would Be ‘Extremely Dangerous’

Russia has warned that the accession of Ukraine to NATO may be met with retaliatory measures.

The suggestions by Russian deputy abroad minister Andrei Rudenko come after U.S. Safety Secretary Lloyd Austin talked about Washington backed Kyiv’s goal to hitch the transatlantic alliance and that no nation may veto such a switch.

All through a go to to Ukraine, Austin talked about on Tuesday that Kyiv had “one of the best to find out its private future abroad protection” which it must do “with none open air interference.”

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has been clear in his objective to hitch NATO as a buffer in the direction of the specter of Russia, which in May massed its largest focus of its troops near the Ukrainian border as a result of it annexed Crimea in 2014.

Nonetheless, Rudenko warned in the direction of such a switch, telling the information firm RIA, “We think about that this can be an particularly dangerous step that may drive Russia to react accordingly,” together with that “any step may have penalties.”

Defence Secretary Austin had moreover talked about on Tuesday that Russia was an “obstacle” to any peaceful choice to the battle raging in Ukraine’s east as he reiterated requires Moscow “to complete its occupation of Crimea.”

“Since these are negotiations between NATO and Ukraine, it’s as a lot as them to find out when and what’s needed, nevertheless we sort of warned them. NATO is conscious of our place on Ukraine,” Rudenko talked about.

Newsweek has contacted Ukraine’s abroad ministry for comment.

Tensions have grown between Russia and the U.S.-led alliance in the previous few months. On Monday, Moscow talked about it would droop its eternal mission to NATO after the alliance expelled eight Russian diplomats earlier this month.

In July, Moscow was angered when British Navy vessel HMS Defender sailed past Crimea, which Russia (nevertheless not the worldwide group) defines as its private territory.

Mikhail Popov, deputy secretary of Russia’s Security Council, blamed the U.S. and NATO allies of “a pre-planned provocation” in an incident which befell amid a backdrop of NATO Sea Breeze 2021 exercises inside the space that Moscow considers its backyard.

NATO defence ministers are set to agree a plan to defend in the direction of a Russian assault on quite a lot of fronts, Reuters reported Thursday.

The plan, titled “Concept for Deterrence and Defence inside the Euro-Atlantic House,” comes as Russia develops superior weapon strategies such as hypersonic missiles.

“That’s the means during which of deterrence,” talked about German Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, who instructed Reuters it was being tailor-made to the current behaviour of Russia.

“We’re seeing violations notably of the airspace over the Baltic states, however moreover rising incursions over the Black Sea,” Kramp-Karrenbauer added.