Ukraine parliament ditches NATO membership goal

Ukraine's parliament Thursday passed in a first reading a bill formally establishing the country's non-aligned status, ditching former ambitions to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

The bill was approved by a majority of 253 deputies in the 450 seat Verkhovna Rada, an AFP correspondent reported.

Ukraine's new President Viktor Yanukovych, who won February polls on pledges to improve badly-strained ties with Russia, has said Ukraine should be a non-aligned state and the goal of his predecessor Viktor Yushchenko to join NATO is no longer on the agenda.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on a visit to Kiev last month invited Ukraine to join the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), often seen as a rival to the Western alliance.

But Kiev has so far showed no enthusiasm to join that body either.