A Russian defense official says that Turkey is turning into an “unfriendly country” after a series of “provocative decisions”. The comments follow a visit to Turkey by the Ukrainian president.

“The events of the past weeks, unfortunately, clearly demonstrate that Turkey is gradually and steadily continuing to turn from a neutral country into an unfriendly one”, - said Viktor Bondarev, the Head of the Russian Federation Council Committee on Defense and Security.

“Such behavior could not be called anything other than a stab in the back”, he said, calling the “unfriendly step” a result of pressure from NATO.

Bondarev stated that the only reason NATO needs Turkey is “to control the Black Sea straits and stabilize or destabilize the Middle East region”, and said Turkey should think about “leaving NATO and creating an alliance with Russia”.