Last winter's revolution in Kiev upset Russian President Vladimir Putin's plans to enlist Ukraine in a new, Kremlin-led bloc that could rival both Nato and the European Union. <\/p>\n
And Moscow had set Kiev's exclusion from all military blocs as a condition for any deal on ending the pro-Russian uprising that has killed 4,700 in the eastern Ukrainian rust belt in the past eight months. <\/p>\n
Putin's view of Nato as modern Russia's biggest threat has only been reinforced by this year's dramatic spike in East-West tensions over Ukraine. <\/p>\n
\"In essence, an application for Nato membership will turn Ukraine into a potential military opponent for Russia,\" Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev warned in a Facebook post on Monday. <\/p>\n
He said that Ukraine's rejection of neutrality and a new Russian sanctions law that US President Barack Obama signed on Friday \"will both have very negative consequences\". <\/p>\n
\"And our country will have to respond to them,\" Medvedev added. <\/p>\n
Perhaps the most immediate threat will be to delicate peace talks this week in the Belarussian capital Minsk that Poroshenko announced on Monday. <\/p>\n
Poroshenko said the deal for Kiev and rebel negotiators to meet in the presence of Russian and European envoys on Wednesday and Friday was struck during a joint call with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande the West's top mediators on Ukraine. <\/p>\n
The last two rounds of Minsk consultations in September produced a truce and the outlines of a broader peace agreement that gave the two separatist regions partial self-rule for three years within a united Ukraine. <\/p>\n
A pro-Russian separatist stands guard near Donetsk's Sergey Prokofiev International Airport (Reuters) <\/p>\n
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Here is the original post: Last winter's revolution in Kiev upset Russian President Vladimir Putin's plans to enlist Ukraine in a new, Kremlin-led bloc that could rival both Nato and the European Union. And Moscow had set Kiev's exclusion from all military blocs as a condition for any deal on ending the pro-Russian uprising that has killed 4,700 in the eastern Ukrainian rust belt in the past eight months Continue reading
\nUkraine takes historic step toward Nato membership<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"