Prague announces conditions for Ukraine's accession to NATO
Ukraine's accession to NATO is possible after the stabilization of the borders (Photo: RBC-Ukraine, Vitaliy Nosach)
Ukraine can join NATO when the hostilities against Russia end, its borders stabilize, and it can contribute to the alliance's security, stated Jakub Landovsky, the Permanent Representative of Prague to NATO, in an interview with Bloomberg.
Landovsky states that historical precedents indicate that a peaceful agreement between Kyiv and Moscow is unnecessary for membership, but Ukraine must decide when the war will end.
"The outright fluidity and hostility needs to end," Landovsky said in an interview on Wednesday at the Foreign Ministry near Prague Castle.
"But ultimately the only party responsible to answer the question of where the border should lie is Ukraine. Nobody from the outside can even comment on that," he said.
The decision of the NATO Summit in Vilnius
Recall that Ukraine did not receive a direct invitation to NATO from allies at the summit in Vilnius. As explained by NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, Ukraine will receive an invitation when "all allies agree and conditions are met."
In addition, NATO countries agreed that Ukraine could join the alliance without a Membership Action Plan (MAP) through a somewhat simplified procedure, similar to that followed by Finland and soon by Sweden.
Furthermore, the "Big Seven" countries decided to provide Ukraine with "security guarantees," which mainly include supplying weapons but do not replace Article 5 of NATO's statute on collective defense in case of war.
Currently, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are conducting a major offensive to drive Russian forces out of the southern part of the country and Crimea.
