Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said that Kiev plans to create a national system for the transition to the standards of the North Atlantic Alliance, which should accelerate the path to full NATO membership
“Ukraine firmly and unbreakably holds the course to join the Alliance. After all, as the President of Ukraine noted, NATO is the only way to end the war in eastern Ukraine”, – Shmygal wrote on his Facebook page.
According to him, the Ukrainian authorities have already introduced 292 standards and guiding documents of NATO or 19 per cent of standardization deals. Shmyhal is convinced that the launch of a national system for transition to NATO standards will allow Ukraine to speed up its path to membership of the alliance.
Ilya Kusa, expert on international politics and the Middle East at the Ukrainian Institute of the Future: ” I’ll tell you why we are not accepted to NATO. Not because of the different caliber of bullets or the size of military uniform. There are three main reasons:
1. Russia. The West views Ukraine through the prism of its relations with Russia, and NATO membership is a tool of escalation with Moscow. So a purely political solution is at work here.
2. Reforms. We have not fulfilled our obligations to the West to introduce the necessary reforms, not only in defence and security. The alliance, after all, is built on shared values, principles and governance structure.
3. Weakness. An inefficient state apparatus, a weak economy, underdeveloped social institutions – no one wants a weak, non-initiative and passive state.”