MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th July, 2023) The United States and Germany want NATO's Vilnius summit declaration to stick to the pledges made to Ukraine in Bucharest more than a decade ago, German daily Bild reported Monday, citing a diplomat.
The unnamed diplomat was reportedly concerned that Berlin and Washington were pushing for a declaration that "hardly goes beyond the Bucharest one from 2008."
Another source from an eastern European country confirmed to Bild that the two powers were indeed trying to prevent Ukraine from lodging a formal request to join NATO at the summit that begins in Vilnius on Tuesday.
"I can confirm to you that the US and Germany are blocking Ukraine's official application for NATO membership," the source said.
Several NATO countries, including the three Baltic states, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, France, Turkey, and NATO candidate Sweden are reportedly in favor of bringing Ukraine into the alliance, at least in the long term.
NATO said at the 2008 Bucharest summit that the allies welcomed Ukraine's aspirations for membership. It pledged that Ukraine would become a NATO member one day but no progress was made. Ukraine applied for accelerated NATO membership in September 2022 following the start of the Russian military operation in February of that year.
