MOSCOW: Russia has warned Ukraine the two countries’ relations would be significantly damaged if Ukraine joined Nato, as protests against planned exercises in the Crimea kept hundreds of US troops confined to barracks. The Russian parliament, often a mouthpiece for the Kremlin, passed a resolution on Wednesday which said: “Ukraine’s accession to the military bloc will lead to very negative consequences for relations between our fraternal peoples.” The message, part of a continuing campaign by Moscow to retain its influence on its more western-orientated neighbours Ukraine and Georgia, was later bolstered by the foreign minister Sergei Lavrov. He said former Soviet Union countries could decide their own fate, but he warned of “a colossal geopolitical shift” if Georgia and Ukraine joined Nato.

The statements came as 200 US troops, who are in the predominantly Russian-speaking southern Ukrainian region of Crimea to prepare for Nato exercises due to start next Wednesday, remained trapped in their barracks. Protesters greeted their arrival last week with barricades and slogans reading “occupiers go home!”, and reportedly harass them if they step outside the military base.

The marine reservists are in the region to prepare for the Sea Breeze 2006 Nato manoeuvres on the Black Sea, intended as a key sign of the West’s slow embrace of Ukraine. On Tuesday the Crimean parliament declared the region a “Nato-free zone”, a move it said was intended to support the anti-Nato protesters.

Brent Byers, a spokesman for the US embassy in Kiev, said the unarmed troops, who are working on the Feodosiya military base’s plumbing and other infrastructure, could not leave the barracks. “They are safe and sound and anxious to get on with their work,” he said, adding they were keeping a low profile to avoid inciting tensions. “We really don’t understand what is going on down there,” he said. “They would like to get out to enjoy the restaurants and buy some souvenirs.”

Ukraine’s Nato ambitions are long-standing and were entertained by President Viktor Yushchenko’s predecessor, Leonid Kuchma, unseated in the so-called orange revolution in November 2004. But pro-western protests that ushered Mr Yushchenko into power have heightened Kremlin sensitivities about losing influence over former Soviet satellites.

Yesterday Mr Yushchenko met the Dutch Prime Minister, Jan Peter Balkenende, in the Hague to discuss joining Nato by 2008. He has promoted membership of the military bloc to Ukraine’s 47 million people as a key step towards the economic benefits of joining the European Union.

The row over Nato exercises has come at a sensitive time for Mr Yushchenko, who is struggling to form a government coalition two months after his party’s dismal performance in March’s elections. Recent signals have suggested a coalition is almost ready, with his main adversary and former partner in the orange revolution, Yulia Tymoshenko, set to return as prime minister. But Wednesday’s talks hit another snag, causing MPs to postpone a parliamentary vote that had been intended to approve the Nato exercises. The vote will now be held on June 14, the day the exercises were due to start.—Dawn/The Guardian News Service