SOCHI, October 21./TASS/. The military presence of NATO in Ukraine poses a threat to Russia, President Vladimir Putin told a plenary session of the Valdai Discussion Club on Thursday.

"The formal membership [of Ukraine] in NATO may fail to take place, but the military development of the territory is already underway. And this really creates a threat to the Russian Federation, we are aware of this," Putin said in reply to the question about the deployment of NATO’s military infrastructure in Ukraine.