By KYIV. Oct 23 (Interfax-Ukraine) – At the next NATO summit, which will be held in Washington in 2024, it is necessary to begin negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the Alliance, said Deputy Secretary General of NATO in 2012-16, U.S. Ambassador to NATO in 1998-2001 Alexander Vershbow.
“The only reliable security guarantee for Ukraine is its future membership in NATO. And we should start this process at the Washington Summit,” he said during a special event at the Kyiv Security Forum, founded by Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s Open Ukraine Foundation.
Vershbow noted that a corresponding proposal was contained in the Atlantic Council’s appeal to the U.S. President on Ukraine’s accession to NATO. The initiators of the appeal believe that after the start of negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the Alliance, the accession schedule may remain open and depend on how events unfold, in particular, on the liberation of territories occupied by the Russian Federation.
According to the former NATO Deputy Secretary General, this year’s summit in Vilnius failed to attain the expected results on the prospects of Ukrainian membership and essentially turned out a “lost opportunity.”
“Certain new steps to bring Ukraine closer to NATO, such as dropping the need for a Membership Action Plan. Still, these were just modest moves beyond the 2008 Bucharest summit language,” he added.
Vershbow stressed that “anniversary summit is a good opportunity to define a clear path for Ukraine to NATO membership.”
He said that they would like Ukraine to begin negotiations on joining NATO at the Washington summit.
Vershbow also considers unacceptable the proposal of some experts to postpone Ukraine’s entry into the Alliance until the end of the Russian Federation’s war against Ukraine, since this will only encourage Russia to continue its aggression.
“This is like offering russia a permanent veto right on Ukraine’s accession to NATO,” he explained.
