Rutte: Ukraine's affiliation with NATO will depend on how the war evolves
Mark Rutte, who took office as NATO Secretary General, states: Ukraine's future membership in NATO is already spelled out in the Washington Declaration of the alliance summit, however, progress towards membership should be considered in the context of further developments.
This is what Rutte said speaking at a press conference in Brussels on Tuesday.
“I think the Washington Summit clearly took the next step in the Summit conclusions [that Ukraine will be a member of NATO], and I'm very happy about that. And obviously what we now have to focus on is the war effort, and to make sure that—and this is the paradox, the more we help Ukraine at the moment, the sooner this will end. And Putin has to realise that we will not give in. That we want Ukraine to prevail. In the end, when you talk about peace, it's up to the Ukrainian government to decide when they are at a stage that they want to discuss peace and peace talks, etc. That's for later,” the NATO Secretary General said.
“And obviously we have to look at all these developments over the next six months, year, two years, also in the context of a possible future NATO membership, but it is very difficult at this stage to exactly predict how the one and the other might, yes or no, be connected,” he added.
Rutte reiterated that Ukraine's future is in NATO. “Of course, what we now first have to deal with is the war, and to make sure that Ukraine prevails, and that Ukraine prevails as an independent, sovereign and democratic nation, that is now the priority. And I don't want to get into now what type of pathways there are to NATO membership, because there are so many varieties here and so many options, and that will very much also depend, of course, on Ukrainian leadership and how this war evolves,” he noted.
The NATO Secretary General also commented on the recent nuclear threats from the Kremlin. “We hear regular threats from the Kremlin and it's true that Putin's nuclear rhetoric is reckless and irresponsible, but at the same time, let me make it absolutely clear, we do not see any imminent threat of nuclear weapons being used,” Rutte said.