Zelensky demands “guarantees” on NATO entry path – DW – 07/12/2023

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made the request on Wednesday (07.12.2023). NATO Arriving at the Vilnius summit on “security guarantees” for his country on its way to joining the organization, its leaders on Tuesday avoided formally inviting Kiev to join the alliance.

“We have three priorities on our agenda: the first is the arms package, the next is the invitation to join, when the conditions are met, and the third is security guarantees to join NATO,” he said. The Ukrainian leader approaches the summit in the Lithuanian capital.

In a statement approved on Tuesday, already with the help ahead of today’s meeting of the so-called NATO-Ukraine Council ZelenskyIt stated that the alliance would be “in a position to invite Ukraine to join the alliance when the conditions are agreed and met.”

“From what we hear and understand today, we will receive this call when security conditions allow,” Zelensky said upon arriving at the summit at the point of a statement referring to Ukraine, which many Ukrainians have criticized as lacking certainty.

Zelensky explained that today he will try to understand what exactly the approved formula means for Ukrainian aspirations to join NATO. “I want to talk about it with our partners,” he explained.

Discussion on conditions

Jens Stoltenberg, the organisation’s secretary-general, who presented the report yesterday, explained that the conditions imposed affect the modernization of security and defense institutions and the strengthening of governance, including the fight against corruption.

“These are issues that have been addressed in all NATO enlargements because we want good governance, modern defense and security institutions and militaries that are interoperable with NATO,” Stoltenberg said.

The secretary-general also said he believed “this is not the time to make Ukraine a full member of the alliance” as long as all NATO countries continue the war.

On the other hand, he emphasized that for the first time in the statement of the NATO summit, the “invitation” was included “as part of the language” to talk about Ukraine and the need for an “accession agenda”. (MAP) for future Ukrainian entry.

According to Stoltenberg, Ukraine’s entry into NATO would mean moving from a “two-step” process to a “one-step” process.

ct (efe, afp)