Russia would welcome Ukraine taking a role in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), but any decision to participate must be made by Kiev alone, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday.
The Russia-dominated post-Soviet security grouping includes Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has moved Kiev dramatically closer to Moscow since taking office in February, but has also said the country would never join a military alliance, calling Ukraine a "nonaligned state" in his inauguration address.
"What President Yanukovych has said regarding Ukraine's nonaligned character, the current situation absolutely satisfies me as the president of Russia, because it fully ensures our interests, and it seems to me fully meets the aspirations of a large part of the Ukrainian people," Medvedev said.
"However, life changes," he continued. "If in the future you consider it right to join the CSTO, we will of course be happy to invite and welcome you. But this is a sovereign decision for a state, and it should be thoughtful and serious."
Ukraine's previous president, Viktor Yushchenko, pursued strongly pro-Western policies, often at the expense of ties with Moscow, but Yanukovych, whose powerbase is in the largely Russian-speaking east of Ukraine, promised during the election to improve relations with Russia.
KIEV, May 18 (RIA Novosti)
