Ukrainian parliament votes to give up country’s ‘non-aligned’ status and join NATO in move set to further anger Russia

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The Ukrainian parliament has renounced Ukraine’s ‘non-aligned’ status with the aim of eventually joining NATO – a move angering Moscow which views the Western alliance’s eastward expansion as a threat to its own security.

Kiev first announced its intention of seeking the protection of NATO membership in August following what it deemed the open participation of Russia’s military during the separatist war in its eastern provinces.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called Ukraine’s renunciation of its neutral military and political status a ‘counterproductive’ step that would only boost tensions around the crisis in the east.

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