Zelenskyy: NATO is best guarantee of security, as so far no examples of Russia attacking any country from Alliance
NATO membership is the best guarantee of security, because so far there are no examples of Russia attacking any of the countries of the Alliance, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.
"[Let's say] we have security guarantees. Why do we need them? For the fact that we are not in NATO. Otherwise, Russia would not have attacked us. Or, if it had attacked, then the Alliance would have protected us. But, nevertheless, I believe that I would not have attacked. Because I don't know now examples of which NATO country Russia came with aggression. So far, I don't see this. This suggests that the best security guarantees are NATO," Zelenskyy said at a press conference following the summit of the European Political Community in Moldova.
As he noted, NATO is an absolutely understandable infrastructure of security guarantees for Ukraine. At the same time, the head of state once again reminded that Ukraine would like to have them even before joining the Alliance.
"While we are not in NATO, we want to have security guarantees. And it is desirable that with these security guarantees there is a clear signal that they are valid until Ukraine is in NATO... We know exactly what we need," the president said.
Answering the question would Ukraine agree to receive security guarantees that would not lead it to NATO if a peace process with Russia takes place, Zelenskyy said first it is needed to understand what and who is the guarantor.
"Let's imagine that someone will think whether to give us security guarantees [not NATO ones]. Then we need to understand which ones. If this is not NATO, then what? And who? The main thing is who is the guarantor? We have the Budapest Memorandum. And what happened? We know. We gave away nuclear weapons. We modern, civilized people did it. Instead, we should have received protection, at a minimum, of sovereignty and territorial integrity. But Ukraine partially and temporarily lost territory. And people, that protect the state – not temporarily, but forever. Therefore, are there any security guarantees other than NATO? Surely you need to think: what is it," the president said.
