MOSCOW. Feb 22 (Interfax) - Ukraine's plans to join NATO pose a direct threat to Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
"Ukraine's accession to NATO is a direct threat to Russia's security," Putin said in a televised address on Monday.
"We are aware of the position and words of the United States leadership that active hostilities in eastern Ukraine do not rule out the possibility of that country joining NATO if it can meet the criteria of the North Atlantic Alliance," Putin said.
"At the same time, over and over again they try to convince us that NATO is a peace-loving and purely defensive alliance. They say that there are no threats to Russia. Once again they offer us to take their word for it, but we know very well the real price of such words," Putin said.