Ukraine takes historic step towards NATO

The Ukraine parliament voted overwhelmingly to take steps towards joining NATO. Photo: AFP

Moscow: The Ukrainian parliament has voted to take steps towards joining NATO, a pointed rebuke to Russia that immediately drew an angry response.

With a Russian-backed separatist insurgency still gripping eastern Ukraine, the parliament voted overwhelmingly 303-8, to repeal a 2010 law that codified a policy of "non-alignment," and to instead pursue closer military and strategic ties with the West.

Former president Viktor Yanukovych, who was toppled in February after months of huge street protests in Kiev, pushed through the 2010 law shortly after he took office. Mr Yanukovych fled to Russia after he lost power.

A protester argues with police in front of Ukrainian Parliament. Photo: AFP

The 2010 law defined non-alignment as "non-participation of Ukraine in the military-political alliances".

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The revised law, which was a priority of President Petro Poroshenko, requires Ukraine to "deepen co-operation with NATO in order to achieve the criteria required for membership in this organisation."

For now, it still seems unlikely that Ukraine will join NATO, in part because of Russia's strong opposition.Moscow had set Kiev's exclusion from all military blocs as a condition for any deal on ending the pro-Russian uprising that has killed 4700 in the eastern Ukrainian rust belt in the past eight months.

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. In November, President Vladimir Putin's personal spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told the BBC: "We would like to hear a 100 per cent guarantee that no one would think about Ukraine's joining NATO."

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Ukraine takes historic step towards NATO