The minister took to Twitter to thank NATO for granting this status to Ukraine.
NATO’s recognition of Ukraine as an Enhanced Opportunities Partner has nothing to do with a full-fledged membership in the alliance but demonstrates the latter's intention to further drag the country into anti-Russian activities, the first deputy chair of the Russian lower house's foreign affairs committee said on Friday.
"It is clear that this status has nothing to do with a full-fledged membership in NATO. But nevertheless, this political decision indicates a clear trend toward further dragging Ukraine into anti-Russian schemes," Dmitry Novikov said.
According to the senior lawmaker, the new status basically means increased cooperation between the sides at a consultative level.
"This status does not directly entail concrete decisions related to the deployment of armed forces. But this is a step toward this direction," the lawmaker noted.
Instability and hotbeds of confrontation on Ukrainian territory, he went on, formally remain a serious obstacle to the country's inclusion in the alliance's programs.
"Nevertheless, we see that documents are one thing, and practice is the other. And if it is necessary to formalize this practice with new documents, it will be easily done," Novikov suggested.
Russia, in turn, has "much work" ahead to prevent any security threats, including those coming from NATO, the lawmaker concluded.