State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin said that if a decision on Ukraine joining NATO will be taken, Russia will provide an appropriate response.
In reply to the question of whether there is a chance of a positive response at the national referendum on Ukraine joining NATO, Naryshkin said that he "can imagine a situation in which the results of the plebiscite may be presented in this way." In this case, the North Atlantic Alliance will then come to Russia’s doorstep and this "will weigh upon the conscience of those who in February 2014 triggered the coup that overthrew the legal government of President Viktor Yanukovich," Naryshkin added.
In these circumstances "Russia will respond to such actions as yet another step towards worsening relations, and we will not leave it unanswered," he said. "At least we have no intention of joining NATO," TASS cited him as saying.
"For the previous two decades we thought we were having a productive dialogue with the alliance, joint institutions had been created and joint projects were being implemented," he said, admitting that "now all this is in ruins."
However, Naryshkin said he is an optimist and believes that "the black stripe in relations between Russia and the West will end and common sense will prevail." Some hints are already in sight. The world has enough "honest and decent people, responsible politicians who first and foremost care about the national interests of their countries and are least oriented towards the so-called euro-Atlantic solidarity," he believes. In this context, Russia has "very much in common with Europe – culture, history, traditions, and humanitarian and spiritual values," the State Duma speaker said.
