Russia says Kiev's move to join NATO dangerous for Europe

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov speaks to media in a news conference during a meeting of foreign ministers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Basel December 5, 2014. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Ukraine's pursuit of NATO membership posed a danger to European security and that the West was using Kiev's bid to join the Atlantic alliance as a way to fuel confrontation between Russia and Ukraine.

The Kiev parliament's renunciation of Ukraine's neutral status this week as a step towards joining NATO has outraged Moscow and deepened the worst confrontation between Russia and the West since the end of the Cold War.