Moscow. Reuters. Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council, said on Friday that Moscow should abandon its «tolerant stance» on the possibility of Ukraine joining the European Union. Medvedev added: «The European Union is no longer just an economic bloc». He noted: «It is time to abandon the tolerant attitude towards the aspirations of neighboring countries to join what has now become a military and economic European bloc». Medvedev ruled out a U.S. withdrawal from the NATO military alliance but suggested that their alliance could quickly turn into a full-fledged military alliance that adopts an openly hostile position towards Russia and becomes worse than NATO in some respects».
