Skopje, 1 February 2022 (MIA) – Ukraine is a partner of NATO but not a member of the Alliance. One can help on a bilateral basis but you will not see NATO troops, including our own, deployed at the territory of Ukraine in case tensions reach a level of open conflict. This is our position, said President Stevo Pendarovski after a session of the Security Council on Tuesday. President Pendarovski said people should not believe in propaganda that NATO would engage at Ukrainian territory in case of Russian attack, adding “this will not happen”. “The Alliance has not taken a decision over its troop deployment in the Ukraine and will not do this, regardless of developments there. Why? Because Article 5 of the Washington Treaty stipulates that only an attack on one member is considered an attack on all members. This is the only case when other members are obliged to provide combat support,” said Pendarovski when asked if North Macedonia could deploy troops under the NATO flag. He added that NATO is currently doing a ‘force generation’, meaning that the Alliance is obliged to develop several scenarios in case of crisis at its borders that might escalate into something bigger. “And they ask what you will offer as a NATO member in case of such conflict level. Therefore, it is only in the sense of preparedness or raising the army’s mobility, but not deployment of troops at a territory of a country that is not a member of the Alliance,” noted Pendarovski. According to him, North Macedonia’s presence in Afghanistan and Iraq came after the fall of the Taliban and Hussein regimes respectively, adding “we were not there to wage war“.