MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th July, 2023) NATO has given Ukraine no timeline for its accession to the bloc yet since the allies do not know when the conflict there will end, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Friday.
"If we knew when an end will be put to this cruel and terrible war, which has brought much suffering to Ukraine, all problems would be solved. Unfortunately, we do not know it because we are not clairvoyants. This war could be ended by only one person - the Russian President (Vladimir Putin). That is why it is logical that we cannot name the exact date," Baerbock said on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Vilnius.
Ukraine applied for accelerated NATO membership in September 2022 following the start of the Russian military operation in February of that year. NATO General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg has on numerous occasions said that the military alliance was supportive of Kiev's aspirations but was not ready to approve its application right away.
On Tuesday, Stoltenberg said at the summit in Vilnius that the NATO leaders had agreed on a package of three elements to bring Ukraine closer to the alliance. The first element includes creating an assistance program for Ukraine that will make transition to NATO standard training and doctrines possible. The second element is the establishment of a new NATO-Ukraine council, and the third one involves the cancellation of the membership action plan for Ukraine, which will allow to shorten Kiev's accession process from two steps to one step. At the same time, no official invitation was extended by the bloc to Kiev.
