Candidate for Chancellor of Germany Friedrich Merz said that he does not agree with those who say that it is necessary to immediately abandon Ukraine's membership in NATO before the start of negotiations with Russia. He said this at the Munich Security Conference, reports the correspondent UNN.
“It was agreed at the last NATO summit that Ukraine should be given the prospect of joining NATO. A joint NATO effort is needed here, so I do not agree with those who say that we should immediately give up on Ukraine's membership in NATO before negotiations with russia,” Merz said.
He said that NATO has already made a decision on Ukraine's membership, and Merz does not think that only one member state of the Alliance could decide to change it.
In addition, he noted that everything necessary should be done to ensure that Ukraine acts from a position of strength and it should be present at the negotiating table as a core state.
“We have to be behind them, we have to be together with them. And of course, a situation in which the U.S. will negotiate with russia is not acceptable,” Mertz said.
Supplement
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would not take the issue of Ukraine's membership in NATO off the agenda.
A senior U.S. official John Cole said Thursday that the United States does not rule out potential NATO membership for Ukraine or a negotiated return to its pre-2014 borders, contradicting comments made this week by the U.S. defense secretary ahead of possible peace talks to end the war in Ukraine.