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NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg says all allies agree that Ukraine will join the alliance. Photo/REUTERS/Francois Lenoir
OSLO – Secretary General (Secretary General) NATO Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday (1/6/2023) said all allies had agreed Ukraine join the alliance.
According to him, Russia could not prevent the expansion of the military alliance led by the United States (US).
“All allies agree that Moscow has no veto power over NATO expansion,” Stoltenberg told reporters ahead of an informal meeting of NATO foreign ministers.
“We moved, the allies agreed that Ukraine would become a member,” he said again.
Earlier, the NATO boss described informal discussions within the alliance on specific steps Ukraine should take to achieve NATO membership as going well.
“I am sure that we will find a consensus on this issue. We had good informal discussions. And we confirmed the main point: Ukraine will become a member of this alliance,” he said.
Stoltenberg also pointed out that Ukraine has moved towards NATO, moving from Soviet standards to NATO.
He said NATO had been helping Ukraine in this regard since 2014 and especially after Russia’s massive invasion.
“So, yes, we are moving in this direction, and yes, our allies see Ukraine as a member of NATO,” Stoltenberg said.
Russia strongly opposes NATO expansion closer to its borders. This NATO expansion effort has been used as one of the pretexts for Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine last February, the two countries have been neutral; Finland and Sweden, volunteered to become new members of NATO. Only Finland has been officially accepted, while Sweden is still waiting for Turkey’s approval – which until now still has objections.
(but)
