MUNICH. Feb 9 (Interfax) - Russia hopes that the feeling of excitement inspired by NATO's all-out support will not do harm to the Ukrainian leadership, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the press in Munich on Sunday.
"Concerning Ukraine in the context of relations with NATO, and the parallels between Ukraine and Georgia, I did not draw such parallels. NATO members did, when they wrote in a declaration at the Bucharest summit in 2008 that Georgia and Ukraine will become NATO members," he said.
"The fact that this assertion - backed by some members of the Alliance and opposed by others - finally found itself in the official document, played an unseemly role in Mikheil Saakashvili's decision to start a dangerous military campaign in South Ossetia, including against peacekeepers. I have no doubts about that," Lavrov said.
"I do hope - I spoke about that at the conference - that excitement caused by such all-out support will not do harm to the Ukrainian leadership," he said.