STRASBOURG, October 1 (RIA Novosti), Daria Chernyshova – NATO should guarantee Russia that it will not grant Ukraine a full membership status to avoid another conflict of interests, a British Member of the Council of Europe Lord Anderson said on Wednesday.
“Russia has legitimate security interests. In 1990 the Americans promised to Gorbachev that there will be no further expansion of NATO to the east and if we are serious – NATO should give guarantee that they have no intention of offering full membership to Ukraine,” Anderson said at PACE debate on the Ukrainian crisis.
In this case Moscow will need to reciprocate and “if there is no response… we must intensify the sanctions,” Andreson added.
“We must surely recognize that there are legitimate interests of Russia in the area, and reasonable people must seek to find a solution which recognizes those,” Anderson said, adding that Russia and Ukraine share the same history and culture.
“Ukraine must surely recognize the cultural interests of Russian speakers in the area,” he said.
In August, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called for Kiev to launch a nationwide dialogue in Ukraine to make sure that the rights of all ethnic groups and minorities are equally respected.
Nonetheless, Russia's Western partners have consistently avoided cooperating with Russia on the creation of the "undivided security" zone from the Atlantic to Pacific Oceans, Lavrov said at the 69th session of the UN General Assembly in September.
