Invitation for Ukraine to join NATO will be same as membership - Stoltenberg

An invitation for Ukraine to join NATO, as soon as it is issued, will be the same as its membership in the military alliance.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said this at a press conference in Brussels on Wednesday following the first day of the foreign ministerial meeting, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"All Allies agree that Ukraine will become a member. All Allies agree that we need to continue to move Ukraine closer to NATO membership. We made important decisions last year, we are implementing those now with the removal of the Membership Action Plan, we should not introduce something that is similar to a kind of two-step process. I think it's very important to maintain the one-step process for Ukraine to become a member, removing the requirement for Membership Action Plan and then ensuring that when an invitation is issued then that's the same as becoming a member as it is in NATO. That's the difference between NATO and the European Union. In the European Union, of course, when you're invited, it can take years from an invitation to membership. While in NATO, when you're invited, it's something that happens soon after.," Stoltenberg noted.

He said that regardless of the technicalities, there is a clear commitment for Ukraine to become a member. At the same time, it is necessary to realize that when this war ends, there has to be some kind of guarantees that this is really the end, that there is not only a pause, where Russia reconstitutes its forces, rests and then regroups and then attacks again. There was a similar pattern back in 2014, following the illegal annexation of Crimea and the seizure of part of Donbas. Then Russia took advantage of the ceasefire to start a full-scale war against Ukraine in eight years.

"Of course, when this war ends, we have to be absolutely sure that this is really the end, that it stops here. And therefore, we need to help Ukraine build their own defenses to deter any further Russian aggression. But there will always be a need for security guarantees and, of course, the ultimate security guarantee will be Article 5 and NATO membership," Stoltenberg said.

Photo: Flickr / NATO