MOSCOW,February 9. /TASS/. Russia has never given its consent to the idea of Ukraine’s NATO membership and the alliance’s bases on its territory, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with Tucker Carlson published on the US journalist’s website.

"We agreed with the fact that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, our borders should be along the borders of former union republics. We agreed to that, but we never agreed to NATO's expansion, and moreover, we never agreed that Ukraine would be in NATO. We did not agree to NATO bases there without any discussion with us. For decades we kept asking, don't do this, don't do that," the Russian leader said.