Ukraine’s long-standing pleas for NATO membership received an affirmative response Tuesday with the promise of it joining “in the long term” sure to infuriate Moscow.
The secretary-general of the Western military alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, stressed the immediate challenge is Ukraine remaining an independent nation free from the invading forces of neighbor Russia as he flagged the future membership.
“NATO allies have agreed that Ukraine will become a member of our alliance, but at the same time that is a long-term perspective,” Stoltenberg told reporters during a visit to Finland’s capital Helsinki, the Daily Mail reports.
Stoltenberg’s statement reaffirmed the belief already held in Kiev that membership is only a step away.
Putin has previously cited NATO’s broadening of its borders into eastern Europe as one reason behind his assault on Ukraine.
Ukraine applied to integrate with the alliance with a NATO Membership Action Plan in 2008, but plans to join were shelved following the 2010 election of Viktor Yanukovych, who chose to keep the country non-aligned, the Mail report sets out.
