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Russia's foreign minister says President Dmitry Medvedev has suggested during a meeting with Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko that Ukrainian membership in NATO would violate a 1997 friendship treaty between the Slavic neighbors. Sergey Lavrov has said Friday that the treaty stipulates that neither nation should pose a security threat to the other.



Lavrov has said, "One-sided steps taken despite the essence of the agreement do not add stabilty to our relations."



Russia's parliament has adopted a declaration urging Russia to declare the treaty invalid if Ukraine moves further toward NATO membership.



Lavrov has indicated that Medvedev also criticized Yushchenko over his suggestions that Ukraine will evict the Russian navy from the Black Sea port of Sevastopol when the lease runs out in 2017.