'We do not welcome Georgia's membership in NATO', Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in an exclusive interview with the Georgian TV Company “Rustavi-2”.
'You know, we, of course, to put it mildly, do not welcome Georgia's membership in NATO, despite your aspirations. Not because we believe that Georgia is not entitled to it - every country has the right to determine its affiliation to a particular political-military alliance, integration associations. Here we do not proceed from your approaches, but based on our approaches. They are as follows (this is our national approach, you have your own approach): if near Russia - and I will remind that Russia is a very large country with a huge nuclear arsenal, we can not ignore it - will be a state which is a member of another political-military alliance, nuclear missiles, as it’s known, are focused on objects within the territory of the Russian Federation. Yes, we are partners with NATO, but it’s a fact. I'd like us to have stable and good relationship; to be normal neighbors, especially the relationship between the peoples are centuries-old, very friendly. But the question in this case is not about the relations between people, but about the international relations, which are built on different principles.
If Georgia or any other country – be it Ukraine or some other country – becomes a member of the relevant military-political alliance, it’s a fact that we can not ignore', Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in an exclusive interview with the “Rustavi-2”.