Ukraine votes to abandon neutral status:
Ukraine's parliament has voted to abandon the country's neutral "non-bloc" status and set membership in NATO and the European Union as a goal, a move immediately denounced by Russia as "unfriendly."
The legislative amendment submitted by President Petro Poroshenko was approved with 303 "yes" votes in the 450-seat Verkhovna Rada on December 23.
A note explaining the changes in Ukraine's law on domestic and foreign policy said that the "non-bloc" status codified under then-President Viktor Yanukovych in 2010 had left the country vulnerable to "external aggression and pressure."
The pro-Western leaders who came to power after Yanukoych fled in the face of protests last February have spoken for months of plans to renounce the neutral status, which prevented Ukraine from seeking NATO membership.
A conflict between government forces and pro-Russian rebels who have seized parts of two eastern provinces has killed more than 4,700 people since April.
Russia's envoy to the OSCE, Andrei Kelin, called the move "unfriendly" and said it would "add trouble and tension to our relationship." (Interfax, Reuters, and AFP)
Ooops, maybe those Minsk talks won't add up to much after all...