04/06/2007 (Agence Europe) - Russia approves Ukraine's membership to the European Union but considers its membership to NATO «harmful», said Russian President Vladimir Putin. “We consider it harmful because NATO is a military-political bloc. It is a new irritant in relations with Russia. We cannot see any need for it as no-one is attacking Ukraine”, Mr Putin told the press on 1 June, as reported by RIA Novosti. (hb)