Russia says western states seeking to 'drag' FYROM into NATO

Russia on Thursday accused western countries of trying to drag the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) into the NATO military alliance, even after the Balkan country's electoral commission ruled Sunday's referendum - which overwhelmingly endorsed the name-change - invalid because of low turnout.

"Despite the fact that leading politicians in the EU and NATO member-states openly urged Macedonian citizens to vote in favor [of the name change deal with Greece], which, we believe is a totally unacceptable practice, all this ended in failure," Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova was quoted by Russia's TASS news agency as telling reporters Thursday.

"However, they welcomed its results without batting an eyelid. In particular, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg promised to grant Skopje membership in the alliance as early as the beginning of...