Ukraine and Georgia's Nato Aspirations Touch a Raw Nerve in Russia

In january of that year, burns met with russian foreign minister serge lav rov. And then wrote a memo for secretary of state condalisa rice back home entitled, net means no. In the memo burns again. This is the current c ia director to day under joe biden,. Lavrov stresses that maintaining russia's sphere of influence in the neighborhood was anachronistic. Experts tell us that russia is particularly worried that the strong divisions in ukraine over nato membership could lead to major split involving violence or at worst, civil war.