European foreign ministers confirm that Ukraine cannot join NATO now

ARK News… German Foreign Minister Annalina Bierbock said that NATO cannot discuss expanding its ranks and discuss the issue of Ukraine joining its ranks, in the midst of the conflict in this country.

She added, "Each country can decide for itself which alliance it wants to join. This is NATO's open-door policy. We made it clear with Finland's acceptance, and we hope that this will happen soon with Sweden's acceptance."

The German minister indicated that NATO has intensified its cooperation with Ukraine after the launch of the Russian special military operation, and confirmed that NATO's open-door policy is still in effect. "At the same time, it is clear that in the midst of war, we cannot talk about the entry of new members into the alliance," the minister stressed.

For his part, Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn expressed his belief that Ukraine could not be interested in joining NATO while the conflict there is currently continuing.

The minister added today upon his arrival in Oslo for an informal meeting of the foreign ministers of the member states of the alliance: “During the 75 years of the history of the alliance, a country experiencing an armed conflict on its territory has never been accepted as a member.

This is impossible, because in this case, according to Article 5 of the Alliance Charter, we will find ourselves in a state of war between Russia and NATO. We must take steps in the right direction, including the formation of the Ukraine-NATO Council. And then we must give Ukraine security guarantees."

He expressed the hope that Ukraine would one day become part of the alliance but indicated that the condition for this is the cessation of the conflict or at least it's freezing.

At the same time, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, commenting on the issue of Ukraine's accession to NATO, said: “All member states agree that Ukraine will become part of the Alliance, which should be decided by NATO and Ukraine - when Ukraine will become a member of NATO. Moscow has no means of vetoing alliance expansion."

Source: TASS

112