"We want an honest answer": Kuleba on timing of accession to NATO
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Ukraine has done enough on the path to Euro-Atlantic integration and wants to hear an honest answer about the timing of NATO membership.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba stated this during an interview at the Center for Eastern European Studies in Vilnius on Thursday, July 8, DT reports.
"We want to hear an honest answer… We understand that NATO membership isn't a date on the calendar that can be highlighted in red. But we've already done enough to deserve the next step in our Euro-Atlantic integration," he said.
Kuleba complained that Russia's position on NATO membership was being taken into account by members of the Alliance behind closed doors.
"On the one hand, we hear statements that Russia doesn't have the right to vote in Ukraine-NATO relations, but at the same time we hear behind closed doors and with the microphones off that it's not the best time for Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic integration, because we 'need to consider Russia.' That's how politics works, and we understand that. Our position is simple: we're all realists, and if Russia is the cause, don't tell us it's because of a lack of reforms," he said.
Earlier German Ambassador to Ukraine Anka Feldgusen noted that the issue of Ukraine's accession to the EU and NATO was political.
"NATO has always had problems with countries at war. Certainly. Because one of the advantages of NATO is Article 5 of the Washington Treaty. And everyone is afraid to be in a direct war with Russia," the ambassador explained.
