Medvedev: Russia "not happy" about NATO expansion

Mar 25, 2008, 11:31 GMT

Moscow - Russian president-elect Dmitry Medvedev has stayed firm on Moscow's stance against NATO's eastward expansion, saying in an interview published Tuesday that membership for Ukraine and Georgia would imperil European security.

The comments in the Financial Times appeared one week before a NATO summit to be attended by President Vladimir Putin in Bucharest, where members will review whether to allow two former Soviet states a place in the organization.

'We are not happy about the situation,' said Medvedev, interviewed in Moscow. 'It is extremely troublesome for the existing structures of European security.'

Moscow has responded increasingly harshly to what it views as the threat of a foreign military bloc along its borders.

Russia tied its withdrawal from a Cold War European arms restraint treaty in December to NATO's encroachment eastward and Russia's parliament said in a resolution passed last week it could react to Georgia's inclusion with open support for the country's two breakaway regions.

While Germany and France oppose Ukraine and Georgia's membership bids for fear of further straining relations with Russia, many of NATO's Eastern European members are pushing for the two states to be put on track for accession as soon as possible. They say this would reinforce democracy and security in both states.