Stoltenberg følger boka vs. Ukrainas medlemskap - DefenseNews

 

Holdningen til NATO er naturligvis riktig, ellers hadde NATO bestilt en krig med Russland. Krigen må definitivt bli slutt først, og NATO pøser på med utstyr. (Red.)

NATO chief defends Ukraine’s by-the-book membership path

By Georgina DiNardo and Sebastian Sprenger

 Jul 11, 08:58 PM

Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg speaks to the media prior to the 2023 NATO Summit on July 10, 2023, in Vilnius, Lithuania. The summit is bringing together NATO members' and partner countries' heads of state from July 11-12 to chart the alliance's future, with Sweden's application for membership and Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine as major topics on the summit agenda. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON and COLOGNE, Germany — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday defended the alliance’s stance on an eventual membership for Ukraine, just as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy lamented the lack of a specific timeline.

“We all agree that the most imminent task now is to ensure that Ukraine prevails as a sovereign independent nation in Europe,” Stoltenberg told reporters after the first day of the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. “So the most important thing we can do is to continue to provide weapons, ammunition [and] military support to Ukraine, because unless Ukraine prevails as a nation, as a democratic nation in Europe, there is no issue to be discussed about security guarantees or membership in NATO at all.”

Stoltenberg’s comments came after Zelenskyy called the summit’s final communiqué language “absurd” in a tweet on Tuesday afternoon. The Ukrainian president made clear he was expecting a concrete time frame for when Ukraine would be formally invited to be a member of NATO.

According to the Washington Post, an anonymous person familiar with the situation claims the U.S. delegation was furious with Zelenskyy’s tweet.

Stoltenberg said no country has ever been offered such a time frame for membership, saying all applicants must meet NATO conditions and garner unanimous allied support.