KIEV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th September, 2018) The possible deployment of NATO military bases in Ukraine has not yet been formally discussed and may only arise in the medium term, in five to seven years, the secretary of the Ukrainian parliament's national security and defense committee Ivan Vinnyk said Wednesday.
On Monday, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko submitted a bill to the parliament on amending the constitution, which codifies the country's course toward the European Union and NATO in the Basic Law. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said that the issue of deployment of NATO military bases in Ukraine could be raised just before the country's entry into the alliance. According to him, the Ukrainian authorities will change the constitution prior to that.
"Regarding the deployment of NATO bases, which we certainly hope will appear in Ukraine in the medium term, these issues are settled in the main part of the constitution," Vinnyk said, noting that the medium term means five to seven years.
Vinnyk explained that the constitution contained an article on the prohibition of the permanent deployment of foreign bases, and there was also an article that says that the temporary presence of foreign troops could be regulated by a separate law.
As of now, there are no grounds for deploying NATO bases, since Ukraine is not a member of the alliance, he noted.
"This issue was not formally discussed," the lawmaker said.
In December 2014, Ukrainian parliament amended the two laws, abandoning the non-bloc status of the state. In June 2016, additional amendments were adopted that make accession to NATO one of the country's foreign policy goals. Ukraine also plans to ensure full compatibility of its armed forces with NATO requirements by 2020.
Former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said earlier that for Ukraine to join the alliance, it will be necessary to reach a number of criteria, which will take a long time to implement. Some experts believe that Kiev would not be able to qualify for membership in NATO in the next 20 years.
