Russia said on Wednesday that a Nato decision to rule out near-term membership for Ukraine and Georgia showed that the US-led military alliance is shying away from interfering with the Russian sphere of influence.

“There is an open split within Nato and it will widen if it tries to expand further”, Dmitry Rogozin, Russian ambassador to Nato, said on the website of state broadcaster Vesti-24. “The schemes of those who adopted a frozen approach to Russia have been destroyed.”