MOSCOW — With a Russian-backed separatist insurgency still gripping eastern Ukraine, Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian parliament voted Tuesday to take steps toward joining NATO.
The revised law, which was a priority of President Petro Poroshenko, requires Ukraine to “deepen cooperation with NATO in order to achieve the criteria required for membership in this organization.”
Russia has denied repeatedly that it set off the separatist violence in eastern Ukraine, but in recent months it has also made clear that preventing Ukraine from seeking NATO membership is one of its top goals.
Repeating Russia’s long-standing contention that Yanukovych was ousted in an unconstitutional overthrow, Lavrov …read more
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
