Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olha Stefanyshina expressed hope that in the next 10 years NATO will take steps to admit the country to the alliance.
“It is important for us to see concrete steps over the next 10 years [со стороны организации] in the direction of accepting Ukraine as a member,” she said in an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel, published on January 17.
Nevertheless, the Deputy Prime Minister specified that the exact date of the country’s accession to NATO has not yet been discussed.
According to Stefanishina, Ukraine’s entry into the alliance will become a means to curb Russia’s “aggressive aspirations”, which supposedly will only increase.
Earlier Monday, in an op-ed for the Times, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said that NATO had not pursued a policy of deliberate expansion to the east, but countries in the region had themselves expressed a desire to join the organization for security reasons.
Negotiations on security guarantees were held in three stages in January. On January 10, a meeting of the Russian and US delegations took place in Geneva. On January 12, a meeting of the Russia-NATO Council was held in Brussels. After the meeting of the Russian and US delegations, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov noted that the conversation was “difficult, long, very professional, deep, specific.” He added that Moscow was hoping for NATO’s ability to understand the danger of deadlock for dialogue on security assurances and to take a step towards Russian proposals. The Deputy Minister also pointed out that the issue of non-expansion of NATO is key for the national security of the Russian Federation, and it is impossible to postpone the settlement of this topic any longer.
Concerns about NATO expansion were also expressed by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. He pointed out that the continuation of the alliance’s open door policy and its further advance towards the borders of Russia threaten Moscow. In this regard, the Russian authorities are seeking to obtain appropriate legal guarantees, he stressed. At the same time, Peskov ruled out negotiating with NATO from a position of strength.
On January 13, the consultations at the Vienna site of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe ended.
NATO at the Bucharest summit in April 2008 adopted a political statement that Ukraine and Georgia could eventually become members of the alliance, but refused to provide both countries with an action plan to prepare for membership, which is the first step in the country’s legal procedure for joining the organization. In February 2019, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine approved amendments to the constitution, fixing the country’s aspirations to join NATO. Ukraine also received the status of an organization’s partner with enhanced opportunities.
Source: IZ
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
