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Zelensky affirms that the alliance with NATO is already a reality in fact.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Friday that his country is formally applying to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), using an accelerated accession mechanism.
The request was made on the same day that Vladimir Putin’s government announced the annexation to the Russian Federation of four regions of Ukraine that Russian troops have conquered since the start of the war in February this year.
“We are taking our decisive step by signing Ukraine’s application for accelerated NATO membership,” Zelensky said in a statement, stressing that his country had already advanced on its path to NATO membership by having demonstrated compatibility with the standards of the Atlantic Alliance.
“Are real [los estándares] for Ukraine, real on the battlefield and in all aspects of our interaction. We trust each other, we protect each other. This is an alliance, de facto. Today, Ukraine is applying to do so de jure“, he pointed.
The accelerated entry mechanism is a procedure that allows a country to join NATO without the need to previously have a membership action plan (MAP), which is a program through which that organization provides individualized support and advice to each country to guide them in the process of adapting to the alliance’s standards.
Although that is the regular procedure for admission, Zelensky noted that recently Finland and Sweden used an accelerated entry mechanism and that it was only fair that Ukraine might do the same.
Finland and Sweden managed to join NATO just a few months following both countries, prompted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, made the decision to apply to join the alliance.
From resignation to petition
Although NATO membership has been an aspiration of Ukraine for several years and has been inscribed in the country’s constitution since 2019, Putin has fiercely opposed such a possibility, saying it represents an existential threat to Russia.
image source, Archyde.com
Vladimir Putin said the annexation to Russia of Donetsk, Lugansk, Jershon and Zaporiyia “is not negotiable”.
Indeed, before invading Ukraine in February this year, Moscow demanded legal guarantees that Kyiv would never be admitted to the US-led military alliance.
Later many analysts have considered that demand as one of several pretexts used by Russia to invade Ukraine.
After the start of this armed aggression ordered by Putin, Zelensky seemed to give up the possibility of joining NATO and noted that his country had to accept that they might never be able to join that alliance.
At the time, some analysts considered that it was a placating gesture to open the door to a possible peace agreement with Moscow.
However, Russia’s decision on Friday to annex Ukrainian territory its troops have conquered in the regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Jershon and Zaporiyia – following holding referendums deemed fraudulent by the international community – appears to have propelled Zelensky to change of position.
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