Ukraine could join NATO despite partial occupation – Czech President Pavel

Ukraine's accession to NATO should not depend on whether it fully controls its entire territory.

President of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel, expressed this opinion in an interview with Novinky and Pravo.

"I believe that full restoration of control over the entire territory is not a necessary condition (for membership). If there is a demarcation, even of some administrative border, then we will be able to recognize this administrative border as a temporary state border and allow Ukraine to join NATO with the territory it will control at that moment," the president said.

He pointed out that Germany serves as an example of a similar transition in history. Pavel mentioned that not all Western nations agreed with the partition of Germany. Despite the Soviet Union occupying part of the country, its western region was admitted into NATO in 1955.

"So I think that there is both a technical and a legal decision which will allow Ukraine to join NATO without dragging it into the conflict with the Russian Federation," the former NATO general said.

He anticipates that Ukraine will reach a peace agreement with Russia in the years ahead. This can only occur when both sides recognize that the war cannot continue. The international community, including the United States, China, and the European Union, must play a major role in facilitating this outcome.

He believes that the agreement could potentially result in Russia maintaining control over part of its territory for an extended period, even though democratic nations have not acknowledged any alteration to the established borders.

"If there are peace talks, we will most likely talk about Russia occupying part of the territory of Ukraine for a long time, and from the point of view of democratic countries that claim to respect international law and the UN Charter, it should happen that we will respect the agreements between the warring parties, but we will not agree to the change of international borders based on aggression," the head of state explained.

According to him, democratic countries should consider the territories occupied by Russia only temporarily occupied until Ukraine regains its sovereignty over the territory it controls.

The former military man believes that the operation of Ukraine's armed forces in the Kursk region aims to better Ukraine's position for possible peace negotiations.

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It should be noted that on September 30, 2022, President Volodymyr Zelensky, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada [Ukraine's parliament – ed.] Ruslan Stefanchuk, and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal signed Ukraine's application for accelerated accession to NATO.

In 2023, a summit of NATO countries took place in Vilnius on July 11 and 12, and Ukraine was one of the main topics.

In the final communique of the summit, published on the Alliance's website, the heads of state and governments of the North Atlantic Alliance recognized Ukraine's progress on the path of Euro-Atlantic integration and confirmed that Ukraine's future is in NATO.

Also, 287 NATO standards have already been implemented in the Security and Defense Forces of Ukraine, and by the end of 2023, they plan to implement about 200 North Atlantic Alliance standards.

Recently, the Ministry of Defense created a two-level procurement system based on NATO standards.

There are 1135 standards in the North Atlantic Alliance, and as of the end of November 2023, Ukraine had implemented about a quarter of them.

It should be noted that Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna said that the USA and Germany oppose Ukraine's official invitation to NATO.