OREANDA-NEWS  The Russian Foreign Ministry expressed concern about the deepening of military cooperation between South Korea and NATO. This is stated in a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs following a meeting between Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko and Ambassador of the Republic of Korea in Moscow Lee Seok-pae.

"The Russian side expressed serious concern about Seoul's increased drift towards NATO, as evidenced, among other things, by practical steps taken by the Republic of Korea to deepen military and military-technical cooperation with the North Atlantic Alliance, the consequences of which pose a threat to Russia's security," the text says.

The Foreign Ministry also stressed the inadmissibility of South Korea becoming an accomplice in the process of NATO's rearmament, noting that the alliance had openly declared preparations for war with Russia.

Earlier, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Moscow would take retaliatory measures, including asymmetric ones, if South Korea participates in supplies for Kiev under the NATO PURL initiative (Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List, a list of Ukraine's priority needs).