Former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Monday that Ukraine could join the alliance via fast-track membership process, adding that the country's military has a potential to be the most combat-ready in Europe
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd July, 2023) Former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Monday that Ukraine could join the alliance via fast-track membership process, adding that the country's military has a potential to be the most combat-ready in Europe.
"The Ukrainian military may be the most combat-ready army in Europe. They already fulfill all the criteria. The future of Ukraine lies within Nato," Rasmussen told The Times newspaper on Sunday.
The ex-NATO chief said that Ukraine needed security guarantees until the country's possible accession to the alliance, adding that Kiev might skip the stage of "membership action plan," which contains a set of requirements for the candidates.
"I don't think we can create permanent peace and stability on the European continent until we really include Ukraine firmly in our Euro-Atlantic structures. Call it containment, or whatever," Rasmussen was quoted by the newspaper as saying.
Ukraine applied for accelerated NATO membership in September 2022 following the start of Russia's military operation in Ukraine. In early June, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kiev hoped to receive a clear invitation to join the bloc at the summit in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius. He also said the Ukrainian military was disappointed that Ukraine had not yet received a clear positive response about joining both the European Union and NATO.
On June 19, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance's Vilnius summit from July 11-12 would not discuss a formal invitation, but rather ways to "move Ukraine closer to NATO."
