Vilnius, 12 July 2023 (MIA) – This is the strongest and most united message on the path towards membership NATO has ever issued to Ukraine, and we did this knowing that Moscow will protest, as they did when Finland joined, or Sweden, or North Macedonia, or all other allies. Ukraine has the right to choose its own path, the allies will decide, it’s not for Moscow to decide, said the Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, at a joint press conference Wednesday with Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy on the second day of the NATO Summit in Vilnius.

According to MIA’s special reporter in Vilnius, Stoltenberg responded to a journalist’s question on whether he believes that by providing security guarantees and assistance to Ukraine the allies are moving closer to a war with Russia, given Kremlin’s remarks.

“This is a fundamental right of every nation, and we can never allow that Moscow starts to decide who can and who cannot be a member of NATO. Russia has been against every enlargement of NATO. It’s for NATO allies and for Ukraine to decide when to become a member. Moscow doesn’t have a veto on that,” said Stoltenberg.

The General Secretary stressed that there is a full-fledged war in Europe and noted that it would be a tragedy for Ukraine if Putin wins, but it would also be dangerous for the Alliance.

On the issue of NATO’s support for Ukraine, Stoltenberg said that the establishment of the NATO-Ukraine Council is one of the three elements of the package agreed by the allies on Wednesday. 

“The purpose of that decision is to strengthen the political ties and political interaction between NATO and Ukraine. The council is different from the previous commission, first and foremost because this is a body that can make decisions, and we meet as equals. We can meet at the level of heads of state and government, as we will do today, at the ministerial level, defense and foreign ministers, ambassadorial level, and military level. So this is a much stronger, much more important political entity than to just have a partnership, this is something we do together as equals,” said Stoltenberg.

The Secretary General added that this is one of the steps NATO is taking to move Ukraine towards membership.

“Today we meet as equals, I look forward to the day we meet as allies,” underlined Stoltenberg.

Photo: NATO