11:23 01.06.2021

Ukraine may have 'plan B' for security before joining NATO - Zelensky

3 min read
Ukraine may have 'plan B' for security before joining NATO - Zelensky

A temporary alternative to NATO membership to ensure the security of Ukraine may be "Plan B," the guarantors of which can be the European Union and the United States, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, published by the press service of the head of state.

Answering the question whether Ukraine will activate the article of the North Atlantic Treaty on collective defense if it becomes a NATO member, the president said that this is a matter of negotiations.

"I think this is a matter of negotiations. Ukraine does not want to fight. And if, excuse me, all NATO countries are afraid that someday a NATO member country will be attacked, if they are afraid that they will have to defend, then there is a question to this structure in general. If so, then what dies this structure, which is afraid to protect a country that is a member of this or that union, mean? What is its value?" Zelensky said.

Ukraine, the president says, may have an alternative security plan.

"Do we see an alternative to the Alliance, if this is the meaning of the question? How to get out of a difficult situation due to the threat if Ukraine gets NATO membership? I can answer. Ukraine can have a 'plan B' when Ukraine gets its full territorial integrity, gets back its territories, this will not be enshrined in a conditional something like the Budapest Memorandum, which may be violated. But there will be serious players - the European Union, the United States, which consolidate Ukraine's status in security. This may take place in order to get out of the collapse that Europe is in now. We have an understanding of such a plan, and I can frankly say that I was going to talk about such a plan with President Biden, because this is already outside the Normandy format," he said.

Zelensky also said that this plan could be in effect until Ukraine gets NATO membership.

"Because this plan - it says that today we stop the war, today we guarantee security for Ukraine, today we resolve issues of energy security, except for territorial integrity. And if we do it today, this is a quick alternative. It is not about geopolitics, it is about saving people, stop shelling, saving lives, our army. That is, this is such a plan B, which is very quick, to get out of the collapse, in which everyone is," the President said and added that this plan also includes guarantees of military nature and energy security.

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