11:32 11.07.2017

NATO Secretary General: Ukraine has tools to move closer to NATO

3 min read
NATO Secretary General: Ukraine has tools to move closer to NATO

NATO has taken note of Ukraine's NATO membership action plan without any in-depth discussions on the issue, but Kyiv has tools to move closer to the Alliance, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said.

"[Ukrainian] President [Petro] Poroshenko raised the issue of membership action plan, the Alliance took note of that but we hadn't any in-depth discussions about an issue. The important thing is that Ukraine has the tools it needs to move closer to NATO with, as we call that, the substantial 'Comprehensive Assistance Package,' which was agreed a year ago, which covers a wide range of areas where we can do much more together," he said in an interview with 112.Ukraine TV channel on Monday.

The NATO Secretary General said that Ukraine now needs to focus on strengthening the defense capability. The task of the allies is to help Ukraine to modernize its armed forces.

"And again the reform, modernizing, fighting corruption, meeting NATO standards – that's important thing, that should be the main focus, because that's important and beneficial for both NATO and Ukraine regardless of the membership issue," he said.

Answering a question about the possible terms of Ukraine's accession to NATO, Stoltenberg said: "I am not to speculate at all about the timelines. Of course, it's up to Ukraine to decide what Ukraine wants. My message has been and is that the question of membership is going to be decided by 29 allies and Ukraine. No one else has the right to interfere into that process."

He also noted the importance of maintaining a political dialogue with the official Moscow under the current conditions.

"It is important to be able to talk to Russia, especially when tensions are high and it's important to talk, for instance to address issues like the Minsk agreements, the implementation. That's the political dialogue. But also to address issues, what we call, transparency, risk reduction – there's a lot of military activity, exercises going on along the borders and we have to prevent incidents and accidents from happening because they can spoil auto control and create dangerous situations. All these require dialogue with Russia, but dialogue is not a sign of weakness, dialogue is a sign of strength – we speak to our neighbor," he said.

At the same time, the NATO Secretary General said "we call Russia to withdraw all its forces from eastern Ukraine. There are thousands of Russian troops in eastern Ukraine and they should be withdrawn and Russia should use all its influence on the militants to make sure that Minsk agreements are fully implemented."

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