The Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), Jens Stoltenberg has stated that Ukraine will become a member of NATO as was agreed by the alliance in 2008, but that first Ukraine needed to prevail as a sovereign, independent state.
The Secretary General stated this while answering a question from the audience at the Munich Security Summit on Saturday.
Also read; ELECTION: How to check your polling unit, code online
When asked if there will be a clear and strong signal that Ukraine will be a member of NATO at the upcoming Vilnius Summit, he responded with the statement that NATO’s position on membership for Ukraine has remained unchanged.
“We agreed back in 2008 that Ukraine will become a member of the Alliance and that is still our position. Then, of course, what matters now is to ensure that Ukraine prevails as a sovereign, independent state, because without having Ukraine as a sovereign, independent state, there’s no way to discuss any kind of relationship between NATO and Ukraine in the future,” the Secretary General said.
He reiterated that the urgent need now is to provide military support as NATO Allies and partners are doing every day.
In his opening remarks at the summit, Stoltenberg stated that NATO must sustain and step up its support to Ukraine, arguing the Putin is not planning for peace, but rather he is planning for more war, new offensives.
NATO has long insisted that all prospective members peacefully resolve outstanding international, territorial, or ethnic disputes before joining the alliance.
While formal membership so far remains out of reach for Kiev, Ukrainian Defense Minister Aleksey Reznikov told the BBC last month that his country has already become a “de facto” NATO member, and will “in the near future, become a member of NATO, de jure.”
The “demilitarization” of Ukraine and its establishment as a neutral country are two goals cited by Russia for its military operation, launched almost a year ago.
Nnamdi Maduakor is a Writer, Investor and Entrepreneur
