Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsia and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen (R) attend a NATO-Ukraine foreign ministers meeting at the Alliance headquarters in Brussels April 1, 2014. NATO sees no sign that Russia is withdrawing troops from the Ukraine border and will look at all options to boost the alliance's defences, its secretary-general said on Tuesday. PHOTO: REUTERS
The decision was taken by NATO foreign ministers who urged Russia in a statement "to take immediate steps ... to return to compliance with international law."
NATO and Ukraine announced in a joint statement after their ministers met in Brussels that they would intensify cooperation and promote defense reforms in Ukraine through training and other programs.
Russia warns Kiev against NATO integration
Earlier, Russia warned Ukraine against integration with NATO, saying Kiev's previous attempts to move closer to the bloc had strained ties with Russia and caused problems between Moscow and the defence alliance.
"(Past attempts) led to a freezing of Russian-Ukrainian political contacts, a headache between NATO and Russia and ... to a division in Ukrainian society," the Russian Foreign Ministry said as NATO foreign ministers gathered for a meeting in Brussels.
It warned that future economic ties between Moscow and Kiev "will largely depend on the actions Ukraine takes in its foreign policy".
The statement underscored Russia's sensitivity to contacts between Moscow's former Cold War enemy NATO and Ukraine, with whom Russia's relations have deteriorated since the removal of Moscow-backed Viktor Yanukovich as president on February 22.
Moscow sees Ukraine, a former Soviet republic, as part of its traditional sphere of influence and wants a neutrality clause included in Ukraine's constitution to prevent it joining NATO.
Ukraine pursued NATO membership during President Viktor Yushchenko's rule from 2005 until 2010. The Kremlin has sought, where possible, to keep buffer states between Russia and NATO.
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It is time that Rasmussen leaves his post! It is him that NATO has been defending Europe for a decade in the Hindukush. He has not the faintest idea how the slavaks Russians feel about NATO being pushed into their front garden.. I have been expecting the Russian forces march into the Baltic countries and Poland8 to take down the missiles) for the last several weeks and am grateful almighty that they have stopped after Crimea, the former Russian enclave with almost sixty percent Russian citizens.
Rex Minor