Issue of Ukraine's membership in NATO not on agenda now - Scholz

It is a bit surprising that the Russian government has made the issue of Ukraine's membership in NATO the subject of major political debates, as this issue is not on the agenda right now, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said.

He said this at a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Monday, February 14, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"The issue of membership in alliances is not relevant at the moment, so it is a bit surprising that the Russian government has made an issue that is not on the agenda now the subject of major political discussions," he said.

At the same time, Scholz noted that the principle of a free choice of an alliance cannot be the subject of discussion and one state cannot tell another which alliance to join or not to join.

"The task at the moment is to bring about de-escalation. For this purpose, there is the Normandy format, there are the Minsk agreements, there is the NATO-Russia Council and there are various formats provided by the OSCE. That is our task now," he said.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is on a visit to Ukraine on Monday, February 14. On February 15, he is scheduled to visit Moscow.

op