Russia has criticized NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg's visit to Kiev this week, using it as further justification for its war against Ukraine.
"NATO is obviously continuing its course of engulfing Ukraine and drawing it into the alliance," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday, according to the Interfax news agency.
Referring to the invasion ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Peskov added: "All this once again shows anyone who has at least a little thinking power the correctness of the president's decision to start this operation."
Stoltenberg had promised Ukraine further support in its efforts to join the defence alliance during a surprise visit on Thursday.
One of the Kremlin's official war aims is to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO - even though, as a sovereign state, it has the right to choose its own alliance. However, Ukraine's accession was far from imminent before the Russian invasion began.
