Finland and Sweden are NATO members, and Ukraine is closer than ever to membership: Stoltenberg on Putin's strategic mistake
Kyiv • UNN
Russian President Putin's invasion of Ukraine has led to Finland and Sweden joining NATO and brought Ukraine closer to membership than ever before, despite Putin's goal of hindering Ukraine's progress toward NATO and the EU, the NATO Secretary General said.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg pointed out that Russian President Vladimir Putin made a big strategic mistake when he invaded Ukraine, because his goal was to prevent Ukraine from moving towards NATO and the EU. He wanted less NATO, he is getting more NATO - Finland and Sweden are full members, and Ukraine is now closer to NATO membership than ever. He said this at a press conference on the occasion of the ceremony of raising the Swedish flag to mark the country's accession to NATO, UNN reports.
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"So Ukraine will become a NATO Ally. The question is not if, but when. And Ukraine is now closer to membership than ever before. And this also demonstrates the big strategic mistake President Putin made when he invaded Ukraine, because as you remember his purpose was to deny Ukraine to move towards NATO and EU. But also he demanded that NATO should make a declaration, actually sign a treaty with Russia, that there should be no further NATO enlargement with any country in Europe. And now he has gotten... he has received the exact opposite. He wanted less NATO, he is getting more NATO, more NATO military presence in the eastern part of our Alliance. Finland and Sweden are full members, and Ukraine is closer to NATO membership than ever before," the NATO Secretary General emphasized when asked whether Ukraine, as a potential 33rd member state, would receive an invitation to the July summit for accession talks.
At the same time, according to Stoltenberg, "we are continuing to move Ukraine closer to NATO membership by ensuring that their forces are fully interoperable with NATO, by deepening our political cooperation in something called the NATO-Ukraine Council and I welcome the strong efforts by NATO Allies to help Ukraine to come even closer to NATO membership."
