For Ukraine to be invited to NATO, war must end and there must be guarantees that it will not start again - Stoltenberg
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg commented on a possible invitation to Ukraine to join the Alliance at the summit in Washington.
This was reported by Censor.NET with reference to Interfax-Ukraine.
The NATO Secretary General reminded that at the summit in Vilnius last year, all allies agreed that Ukraine would become a member. "Last year we made important decisions, we removed the Membership Action Plan... We have to support the process in one step by removing the MAP. This is the difference between NATO and the European Union. When you are invited to the European Union, it can take years from invitation to membership, whereas in NATO, when you are invited, it happens immediately," Stoltenberg said.
At the same time, the Secretary General called for not returning to the two-stage membership process. "But regardless of these technical issues, there is a clear commitment for Ukraine to become a NATO member. Further, you have to understand that when this war is over, there must be some guarantees that this will not happen again, that it will not be a pause during which Russia will recover, rest, and then regroup and attack again," he added.
Stoltenberg clarified that this situation happened in 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea and a few months later destabilized the situation in Donbas. "Then they waited for almost eight years and went for a full-fledged invasion. So, of course, this war will end, we have to be absolutely sure that it is really over, that it will stop here. That's why we have to help Ukraine build its own defense," he emphasized, adding that "Article 5 will be a guarantee of security."
