MOSCOW (Thomson Financial) - Russia warned on Friday that the entry of Georgia and Ukraine into NATO could affect its ties with the alliance and would do nothing to bolster trust in Europe, Interfax news agency reported.
"Georgia's and Ukraine's joining of the alliance cannot fail to influence our relations with those countries, and with NATO as a whole," Interfax reported Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Denisov as saying.
"It is entirely obvious that it will not help strengthen the atmosphere of trust and mutual understanding in Europe, to put it mildly," he was reported as saying.
Moscow sees no "rational arguments that this expansion will aid the security interests of these states," Denisov said.
Russia has strenuously objected to the NATO membership goals of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and of his Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yushchenko, as part of their move towards the West.
Both countries face serious obstacles to joining, including public opposition in Ukraine and two separatist conflicts in Georgia.
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