"As far as the practical aspect is concerned, today's cancellation of the bill will only generate a lot of fuss and nothing else. But, of course, it's a demonstration of intention, of how the Kiev government is going to handle its affairs; it's an unfriendly step toward us, especially under present circumstances," Andrei Kelin, Russia's envoy to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), said in a Rossiya Segodnya video conference.
On Tuesday, Ukraine's parliament passed a law canceling the country's non-aligned status, which allows Kiev to resume the work to join NATO.
"This political vector will only add trouble, and maybe poignancy to the relationship [between Russia and Ukraine]," Kelin stated.
Non-alignment of Ukraine was secured by a law signed by then-president Viktor Yanukovych in 2010. The law stipulated that Ukraine did not seek to join military-political alliances.
In August, Ukrainian authorities announced their decision to abolish the country's non-aligned status and resume Ukraine's course towards NATO membership. According to Poroshenko, Ukraine’s non-aligned status provided no guarantees for its safety and therefore needed to be canceled.
