Russia is afraid that as a member of NATO, Ukraine will restore constitutional order in occupied Crimea. Vladimir Putin said this today during an extraordinary meeting of the Russian Security Council.

"If Russia faces such a threat as Ukraine's admission to the North Atlantic Alliance, to NATO, the threats to our country will multiply. Because there is Article 5 of the NATO creation treaty, from which it is clear that all countries of the alliance must fight on the side of one of its members if it is subjected to any aggression. But since no one recognizes the will of the people of Crimea and Sevastopol, and Ukraine insists that this is its territory, we have a real threat that they will start reclaiming this, as they believe, their territory militarily, and they talk about it in their documents, they write about it, it is obvious, and then the whole North Atlantic bloc will be obliged to get involved in these events," Putin said.

According to the Russian president, European members of the alliance in a conversation with him said that they were against the admission of Ukraine and Georgia into the organization.

"We are told, and you know it, that some NATO countries are against Ukraine becoming a member of the alliance, yet despite their opposition, they signed a memorandum in Bucharest in 2008 that opens the door for Ukraine and Georgia to join NATO. To my question, why did you do this, there is no answer. Under pressure from the United States is the answer. But if they made one step under pressure from the United States, where are our guarantees that they won't make a second step under pressure? There are no such guarantees," Putin said.