A senior Russian diplomat earlier reiterated Moscow's stance that the admission of Russia's ex-Soviet neighbors to NATO will seriously affect the country's political, military and economic interests, and have a negative impact on trouble spots.
NATO has expanded to include many of Russia's former Communist-bloc allies in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet republics of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia in the Baltic Region.
A NATO ministerial meeting in September decided to step up dialogue with Russia's neighbor Georgia, with the aim of admitting the Caucasus state next year.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko, responding Thursday to a question on whether Georgia's accession to the Western security alliance could sour relations between Russia and NATO, said: "The Georgian leadership construes NATO's moves toward Tbilisi as an incentive for pursuing confrontation with Russia."
