Agence France-Presse,
BERLIN: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday that the eastwards expansion of NATO risked “spoiling” relations between Moscow and the West “in a radical way” for years to come.
With attempts to expand the military alliance eastwards towards Russia's borders, “our relations will be undermined, spoiled in a radical way for a long time,” Medvedev said in his first major foreign policy speech since succeeding Vladimir Putin last month.
Moscow has been angered in recent years by the prospect of NATO — an organisation set up originally in the Cold War as a counterweight to the Soviet Union — moving into what it sees as its traditional sphere of influence.
At its summit in Bucharest in April, NATO turned down applications by Georgia and Ukraine for a Membership Action Plan — a stepping stone to joining — but did say the former Soviet republics would eventually become members.
Western powers have grown increasingly concerned by a stand-off between Georgia and Russia over separatist Abkhazia.
Georgia accuses Russian peacekeepers of backing Abkhaz rebels and has demanded they be replaced by an international force.
Earlier on Thursday, Medvedev had said he was “worried” by a lack of “mutual understanding” in relations between Moscow and the West on security issues, including NATO expansion.
