Ukraine's parliament yesterday voted to abandon the country's nonaligned status, a move that could be a step toward seeking membership in NATO.

Supporters of the move, which was passed by a 303-9 vote, said it was justified by Russian "aggression" toward Ukraine, including the annexation of its Crimean Peninsula in March and Russian support for a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine, where some 4,700 people have been killed since the spring.

But opponents said it will only increase tensions, and Moscow echoed that view.

"This is counterproductive, it only heats up the confrontation, creating the illusion that accepting such a law is the road to regulating the deep internal crisis in Ukraine," said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said even more bluntly that "in essence, an application for NATO membership will turn Ukraine into a potential military opponent for Russia."

Medvedev warned 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."

"And our country will have to respond to them," he wrote in a Facebook post.

Perhaps the most immediate threat will be to delicate peace talks this week in the Belarussian capital Minsk that Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko announced on Monday.

Poroshenko said the deal for Kiev and rebel negotiators to meet in the presence of Russian and European envoys today and on Friday was struck during a joint call with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande — the West's top mediators on Ukraine.

Russia routinely characterizes the Ukrainian crisis as an internal matter and rejects claims from Ukraine and the West that it has sent troops and equipment to eastern Ukraine and shelled the region from Russian border areas.

Although Ukraine had pursued NATO membership several years ago, it declared itself a non-bloc country after Russia-friendly Viktor Yanukovych became president in 2010. Yanukovych fled the country in February after months of street protests, and was replaced by Poroshenko in May.

However, Ukraine's prospects for NATO membership in the near term appear dim. With the country's economy in peril, Ukraine has much to overcome to achieve the stability that the alliance seeks in members.

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