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NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (left) press conference with Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin. Stoltenberg said Ukraine would become a member of NATO. Photo/REUTERS
HELSINKI – Secretary General (Secretary General) NATO Jens Stoltenberg said Ukraine will be a member of the alliance, but in what he calls a “long-term perspective”.
The boss of the US-led military alliance stressed that the pressing issue for Ukraine was remaining an independent country in the face of invasion Russia .
“NATO allies have agreed that Ukraine will become a member of our alliance, but at the same time it is a long-term perspective,” Stoltenberg told reporters during a visit to the Finnish capital, Helsinki, on Tuesday.
“The problem now is that Ukraine is acting as an independent sovereign state, and therefore we need to support Ukraine,” he continued.
After the Russian invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged the military alliance to give his country fast-track membership.
Ukraine also applied for EU membership in February 2022, shortly after its military invasion by Moscow, and was granted candidate status in June.
“When the war ends, we need to ensure that history does not repeat itself,” Stoltenberg told a news conference with Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin.
“President (Russia Vladimir) Putin cannot continue to attack his neighbours. He wants to control Ukraine and he is not planning peace, he is planning more wars,” Stoltenberg said, as quoted by AFP, Wednesday (1/3/2023).
Frightened by Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, Finland and Sweden abandoned their decades-long policy of military non-alignment and signed up to join NATO in May 2022.
“I see the future of Ukraine is to become part of the European Union and also a member of NATO,” added Marin.
Turkey and Hungary are the two remaining members of NATO that have yet to ratify Finland and Sweden’s bid to join the alliance.
“Both Finland and Sweden have fulfilled what they promised in the trilateral agreement they made with Turkey last June in Madrid,” Stoltenberg said.
“The time is now to ratify and fully welcome Finland and Sweden as members,” he added.
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