Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is accusing NATO of attempting to "pull" Ukraine into the military alliance and questioning the organization's stated mission.
The Kremlin's spokesperson said on Thursday that the responses to Russia's security demands from the U.S. and NATO amid the Ukraine crisis left "little ground for optimism."
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Monday said that the alliance was willing to sit down with Russia to discuss security concerns as its military buildup along the Ukrainian border continues but stated the alliance would not "com