U.S. reaffirms "open door" principle regarding Ukraine's NATO membership

The United States reaffirms support for an "open door" policy for countries that have expressed willingness to become full-fledged NATO members.

White House spokeswoman Karin Jean-Pierre stated this at a briefing in Washington, Ukrinform's own correspondent reports.

"There’s an 'open door' policy and that’s what we support. We’ve supported it for some time now," said the Biden administration spokesperson.

In this way, she answered the question about the position of the U.S. president regarding the prospects of Ukraine joining the Alliance. The question comes ahead of Biden’s meeting with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who had previously stated that Ukraine's rightful place is in NATO.

At the same time, Jean-Pierre recalled that the decision on any new member accession shall be adopted by consensus of all member states.

In addition, the spokeswoman for the White House noted that now the USA, as well as other allies, are focused on making sure Ukraine “has everything that it needs to fight Russia’s aggression.”

As Ukrinform reported earlier, on Thursday, June 8, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is expected to visit Washington. Next Monday, June 12, President Biden will receive at the White House NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. The Ukraine issue is expected to be on the agenda of both meetings.