MOSCOW. April 14 (Interfax) - In opposing Ukraine's and Georgia's accession to NATO, Russia should seek to influence the people's minds in those countries, said Konstantin Kosachyov, the head of the Russian State Duma's international affairs committee.
"What we should say now is not so much about Ukraine's accession to NATO as about the need to compete for the Ukrainians' minds," Kosachyov told Interfax on the sidelines of the 16th assembly of the Foreign and Defense Policy Council outside Moscow on Saturday.
Therefore, Russia should not threaten and intimidate Ukraine and Georgia but should try to persuade them that "they will be treated as inferiors in the trans-Atlantic environment," he said.
"If we talk about military measures that could be taken in case these countries join the alliance, these measures should be internal, they should complement and improve Russia's defense capability, and they should not be aggressive in relation to the countries joining the alliance," Kosachyov said.
Sergei Karaganov, the head of the Foreign and Defense Policy Council presidium, believes that, in case Georgia and Ukraine join NATO, Russia should take not military but political steps, which could be more unpleasant.
"I hope that, in case of Ukraine's and Georgia's accession to the alliance, Russia will take not military but political measures, which could be much more unpleasant to our partners than Ukraine's and Georgia's accession to NATO. Such measures do exist, but it makes no sense to talk about them now, even unofficially," Karaganov told Interfax.