2023-06-17 18:52:31
Time.news – The American president Joe Biden he assured that Ukraine will not have a facilitated process for accessing NATO. “They have to meet the same standards, so we’re not going to make it easy,” she said.
Towards the Vilnius summit
The US president’s statements come before NATO leaders meet in Lithuania next month. In a symbolic step, the leaders of the alliance intend to hold a first session of the NATO-Ukraine Council with the president Volodymyr Zelensky in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius. The meeting will give Kiev a fairer place at the table “to consult and decide on security issues,” he said yesterday Jens StoltenbergSecretary General of NATO.
But Stoltenberg added that even if NATO strengthens political ties with Ukraine during the summit, there will be no talk of membership for Kiev. “At the Vilnius summit we will not discuss an invitation, but how to bring Ukraine closer to NATO,” Stoltenberg said. “I am confident that we will find a good solution and a consensus.”
Eastern Europe wants an acceleration
Eastern European NATO countries have pushed for a better roadmap for Ukraine’s accession, but key allies like the United States and Germany have proved reluctant to go much beyond a vague promise in 2014 , according to which Kiev will one day unite.
NATO countries have already supplied Ukraine with tens of billions of dollars in armaments since Moscow launched its invasion last February. However, some NATO leaders fear that extending Ukraine’s membership would increase the possibility of the alliance directly engaging Russia in a war.
Biden was also asked about the Russian president’s claims Vladimir Putin according to which Moscow would deploy nuclear weapons within the close allied and neighboring Belarus. “I’ve commented on that statement many times. It’s totally irresponsible,” Biden told reporters at a military base near Washington as he traveled to speak in Philadelphia.
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