MOSCOW, June 19. /TASS/. Kiev's close cooperation with NATO only delays the settlement of the crisis, head of the second department of the CIS countries at the Russian Foreign Ministry Alexey Polishchuk said in an interview with TASS.

"Regretfully, the West’s goal is not the security of Ukraine, but using it as a tool to fight against Russia. Today's close cooperation between the Kiev regime and NATO, even without official registration of membership in the alliance, does not bring us closer to peace, but delays the settlement of the crisis," the diplomat said.

According to Polishchuk, if the West cared about security guarantees for Kiev, the US and NATO would insist on a neutral and non-bloc status of Ukraine and one of the reasons for the current crisis is ignoring Moscow's interests.

"Since the 1990s, we have counteracted the thoughtless advance of this aggressive military bloc towards our borders, warning that the security of some countries cannot be ensured at the expense of the security of others. We have offered many options for resolving the problem, in particular by creating a single Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian space indivisible security," he added.

The representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry noted that the last proposal for a settlement in this area was the draft security guarantee agreement with the United States and NATO, but this initiative was ignored.

"Regretfully, the West continues to follow the path of confrontation, dismantling the existing arms control system and destroying the remnants of the European security architecture. Finland has become a NATO member, Sweden is on the way. They are talking about accession of Ukraine, which they promised it back in 2007," the diplomat concluded.