Zaluzhnyi: Ukraine will never join NATO
Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom, has stated that he does not believe Ukraine has any prospect of joining NATO.
He made these remarks during a discussion on Euro-Atlantic integration at a meeting of ambassadors in Kyiv, reports Censor.NET, citing "EP".
Criticism of the Alliance
"I know NATO very well. For about 12 years, I was personally involved in ensuring we met NATO standards and listened every year to tales that we were just about to join NATO. Unfortunately, we will never join it!" said Zaluzhnyi.
He believes that the obstacle to Ukraine’s accession to the Alliance is that "it is impossible to join, at the current level of development of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, an organisation that adheres to doctrines dating back to the Second World War".
Zaluzhnyi also offered a critical assessment of NATO’s current capabilities, despite the membership of the UK and the US.
"Most likely, NATO will remain as it is, and it will take 12 years, like Ukraine, to transition to the standards that must be met in order to at least reach half the level of the Russian Federation," the ambassador said.
At the same time, Zaluzhnyi acknowledged that "Ukraine needs technologies that are currently still available in NATO countries", including in the areas of anti-ballistic defence, space capabilities and so on.
Alternative alliances
As regards security guarantees for Ukraine, Zaluzhnyi believes that other alliances, rather than NATO, would be more effective. He noted that "in all likelihood, we will be talking about a European military security bloc". Zaluzhnyi also considers Ukraine’s membership of the JEF coalition to be an effective mechanism for security guarantees.
