NATO members ahead of the Vilnius summit next month should agree on language for Ukraine's possible membership and give Kiev a pathway with regard to when it can happen, Marko Mihkelson, foreign affairs committee chair of the Estonian parliament, said on Monday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th June, 2023) NATO members ahead of the Vilnius summit next month should agree on language for Ukraine's possible membership and give Kiev a pathway with regard to when it can happen, Marko Mihkelson, foreign affairs committee chair of the Estonian parliament, said on Monday.
"We have to give the path to Ukraine for them to understand what and when and how they can be accepted as a full member of NATO," Mihkelson said at the Hudson Institute.
The Vilnius summit should also have an agreed wording and message on Ukraine's potential NATO membership, Mihkelson stated.
In September 2022, Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that Ukraine was applying for fast-track NATO membership. NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg reaffirmed the bloc's unchanged position on the right of each country to determine its own path and on its "open door" policy but noted that the alliance would concentrate its efforts on helping Ukraine defend itself. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow was closely monitoring the situation, recalling that Kiev's orientation toward the alliance was one of the reasons for the start of Russia's military operation in Ukraine.
In May, NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoana said that there was currently no consensus within the alliance on Ukraine's entry into the bloc.
