MOSCOW, April 3 (Reuters) - Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's powerful ‌Security Council, said on Friday ‌that Moscow should drop its "tolerant attitude" towards Ukraine's ​possible EU membership.

"The EU is no longer just an economic union. It can transform, and rather quickly, into ‌a full-blown ⁠military alliance, one overtly hostile to Russia, and in some ⁠ways worse than NATO," Medvedev said.

"It’s time to drop the tolerant ​attitude toward ​our neighbors joining ​what is now ‌a military-economic European Union."

Medvedev said that he did not believe the United States would leave the NATO military alliance but that Washington could make ‌symbolic moves such ​as cutting the number ​of U.S. ​troops deployed to other ‌NATO members.

Medvedev said, though, that ​the ​obvious divisions within NATO could push the EU towards becoming more ​than simply ‌an economic union.

(Reporting by Marina Bobrova; ​Writing by Anastasia Teterevleva; editing ​by Guy Faulconbridge)