LONDON, January 30./TASS/. NATO’s further expansion will deal a blow to European security, first of all the security of Russia, Russian Ambassador to the UK Andrey Kelin said in an interview published in The Sunday Times on Sunday.

"The question is, whether this NATO enlargement is going to increase security, or to decrease security. Our view, that it will be a blow to the security in Europe, especially to us," the diplomat said.

"This is the choice of Ukraine to be an independent country, a sovereign country. Earlier, it claimed to be a neutral country, it was in the constitution of Ukraine, and we think that it was the best for Ukraine: to be a neutral country, to be non-aligned - whatever it is," he said.

He spoke in favor of a diplomatic solution to tensions around Ukraine that would rule out its NATO membership. "A diplomatic solution should be negotiated and elaborated, but we need serious legal guarantees that Ukraine will not be part of NATO," Kelin said.

He drew attention to NATO’s danger for Russia. "Many are saying, including the Secretary General, that NATO is a defensive alliance. But in the recent years, the nature of NATO has changed dramatically. It is in all the major documents of NATO. They are saying that Russia represents a major acute threat to NATO, and the task of NATO is to deter Russia, to contain Russia and to defend against this threat. It’s not about defence, it’s about deterrence - this is a major factor, the change of it," the diplomat stressed.

"During enlargement, NATO has moved about a thousand kilometres to the east, very close to our borders. So this is our worry," he added.