2023-05-24 17:07:41
Ukraine is pushing for quick NATO accession, but alliance member countries are divided weeks ahead of a summit in Lithuania. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in Brussels on Wednesday that there were “different views within the Alliance” on this issue. He reminded that a decision on admission would have to be unanimous.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been invited to the NATO summit on July 11-12 in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius. He hopes there “to get a very clear message that we will be in NATO following the war,” as he emphasized during a visit to the Netherlands in early May.
However, Stoltenberg dampened these expectations. “No one can currently say exactly what the final decision at the Vilnius summit will be on this issue,” emphasized the Norwegian at an event organized by the German Marshall Fund. According to diplomats in Brussels, the United States and numerous other member states have reservations. Poland and the Baltic States are the main supporters of inclusion. Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins said in a press conference with Stoltenberg on Wednesday that a lasting peace for Ukraine can only be achieved as part of NATO.
At a summit in Bucharest in April 2008, NATO promised Ukraine accession. Among others, the then German Chancellor Angela Merkel, out of consideration for Russia, prevented the necessary timetable for membership.
1684949564
#Stoltenberg #NATO #countries #odds #Ukraine #membership
