Ukraine Wants Security Guarantees before Joining NATO, but Not as Alternative to Membership

Thursday, 15 June 2023

Ukraine expects to receive security guarantees until obtaining membership in the Alliance during the July NATO summit in Vilnius, but not as an alternative to accession. 

As Ukrinform  reports, according to Yevhen Perebyinis, Deputy Foreign Ministry of Ukraine, among Ukraine's expectations, in particular, is the decision on specific algorithms and time frames for Ukraine's membership in NATO, as well as the issue of reliable security guarantees.

"But I would like to emphasise that we want to receive these guarantees not instead of NATO membership, but for the period until we obtain a full membership. Because everyone understands that the best guarantee of security is NATO membership, because there is Article 5, which speaks of collective security... But by the time we gain membership in the Alliance, we need guarantees of another plan, and this is what we are currently working on," said Perebyinis.

The Deputy Foreign Minister said that various models of guarantees are currently being discussed, including the Israeli one, which is aimed at strengthening the Ukrainian defence, as well as the one that was applied to Finland and Sweden.

"We are now working with our NATO partners to ensure that there will be a specific answer at the Vilnius summit, that a specific algorithm would be adopted on how, under what conditions and when Ukraine will become a member of NATO. Therefore, it is too early to talk about exactly how this will be formulated, but it is absolutely certain that this should be a step forward compared to what was adopted at the Bucharest summit 15 years ago," he added.

Earlier, Czech President Petr Pavel spoke about two scenarios for providing security guarantees to Ukraine from Western allies.

"One is the guarantees that have been provided to Finland since the beginning of the ratification process of its accession. Another approach to security guarantees is applied to Israel. Perhaps we will aim at something in the middle," said Pavel.

Alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg noted that consultations on the framework of Ukraine's accession to NATO are ongoing.

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