Deputy Speaker of the State Duma from the Yabloko faction Vladimir Lukin thinks that the borders of European civilisation should spread from Lisbon to Vladivostok.

"Lisbon - Vladivostok – that is how far the border of Europe should go," said Lukin on Monday during a meeting with members of the Senate and National Assembly of France, who arrived in Moscow with the official delegation headed by the President of France Jacques Chirac.

According to Lukin, such a choice would provide "real prospects for European civilisation in the 21st century."

Lukin also thinks that over the past 15-20 years "the USA has been increasingly drifting away from European civilisation; whereas Russia has been moving closer to Europe."

Lukin also noted that NATO could also expand its horizons accordingly. He said in view of this, that "expansion of NATO to Vladivostok would be optimal".

He stressed that in this case the role of the European factor inside the
North-Atlantic bloc would become more significant.

Speaking about current developments in the bloc, Lukin said that the "worst-case scenario" would involve accession of the Baltic States to NATO. "They are certainly entitled to join NATO; however, we are concerned about the political repercussions,” noted Lukin. He said that in this case the impact "for Russia first of all would be very unfavourable". According to Lukin, this is attributable to the fact that the Baltic states border Russia and most of their population is Russian-speaking.

Based on Interfax reports.