Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, has claimed that Moscow felt "threatened" by Ukraine, which can potentially join North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The former Russian president wrote an article in the state-run Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper that "Our goal is simple -- to eliminate the threat of Ukraine's membership in NATO." He also stated that one of the reasons for Russia to attack Ukraine was to fend off NATO from expanding close to its borders.