Moscow said on Wednesday, Dec 24, Kiev's decision to give up its neutral status and seek closer ties with NATO was a result of pressure from the Atlantic bloc, which wanted to turn Ukraine into a "front line of confrontation", according to Reuters.

Ukraine's parliament this week renounced Ukraine's "non-aligned" status with the aim of eventually joining NATO, whose ties with Russia have plummeted to Cold War-era lows over the crisis in Ukraine.

"NATO countries pushed Kiev to this counterproductive decision, trying to turn Ukraine into a front line of confrontation with Russia," Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov told the Russian news agency Interfax.

"The decision of Ukraine's parliament to give up its non-aligned status will only complicate an already difficult situation," he said.

The move has angered Moscow at a time when Russia, Ukraine and pro-Russian forces are trying to find a political solution to the crisis in eastern Ukraine.

NATO and the pro-Western government in Kiev say they have evidence that Russia has orchestrated and armed a pro-Russian rebellion in eastern Ukraine that followed the overthrow of a Ukrainian president sympathetic to Moscow. The Kremlin denies that it is behind the revolt.