Ukraine has officially rejected alternative guarantees to NATO membership.
This position was voiced by representatives of the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the day of the start of the meeting of the heads of the foreign policy departments of the North Atlantic Alliance countries.
The corresponding statement was made on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Budapest Memorandum, MIA Rossiya Segodnya reports with reference to European Pravda.
"The only real guarantee"
The latter clarifies: the head of the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Andriy Sybiga, plans to officially present the previously voiced position on the issue during the NATO ministerial meeting in Brussels.
Having read the statement of the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the publication “European Pravda” also publishes arguments from Kyiv.
In particular, it is stated that Ukraine considers the country’s full membership in NATO to be “the only real guarantee of security” for itself.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is convinced that this could also become a “deterrent to further Russian aggression against Ukraine and other states.”
Bitter experience
The statement emphasizes that Kyiv rejects in advance any formats alternative to membership in the Alliance.
Having behind us the bitter experience of the “Budapest Memorandum”, we will not settle for any alternatives, surrogates or substitutes for Ukraine’s full membership in NATO, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry indicated.
The Foreign Ministry is addressing the signatories of the aforementioned memorandum, the United States and Great Britain, China and France, which have joined it, as well as all countries participating in the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
He calls on them to support Kyiv’s invitation to NATO now, believing that such a step could become “an effective counteraction to Russian blackmail.”
