In a statement of purpose published in the parliament's official gazette on Tuesday, the Stability and Reforms administration said that new legislation will "enshrine Ukraine's non-aligned status in law."

Such a law would kill one of the key initiatives of President Viktor Yanukovych's predecessor, the staunchly pro-Nato Viktor Yushchenko, who had struggled to gain admission to the US-controlled military bloc since he came to power by the Western-backed Orange Revolution protests of 2004.

The coalition, which includes Mr Yanukovych's Party of Regions, the Communist Party and parliamentary speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn's group, has 235 MPs in the 450-seat assembly.

In addition, the gazette reported that a parliamentary majority had agreed to "form an agenda in bilateral relations with the Russian Federation based on strategic partnership, friendship and good neighbourly relations and mutually proficient trade-economic co-operation."

But a majority of MPs also agreed to "to continue constructive co-operation with Nato on all issues of mutual interest."

Although Mr Yushchenko's Nato ambitions never gained public support, they infuriated Russia, which recently published a military doctrine naming the alliance's eastward expansion as the country's top external threat.

As part of its effort to assert influence over the post-Soviet sphere, Russia has been promoting the Co-operation and Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), which is seen as its answer to Nato.

Western analysts have predicted that Mr Yanukovych would be pressured to join the Russia-dominated bloc but Tuesday's statement applied to all military alliances, including the CSTO.

On Tuesday, Ukraine's opposition, which includes Social Democrats, Christian Democrats and the European Party, had a bristling reaction to the governing coalition's decision.

After it signed its own formal agreement to work together against Mr Yanukovych and his supporters, opposition spokesman Hryhoriy Nemyria said: "Essentially, it is additional evidence of the intention to change the strategic course of Ukraine."

Mr Nemyria claimed that the proposed legislation "is incompatible with the aims to modernise Ukraine's economy and society."

Morning Star Online