The head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmitry Kuleba believes that the country will become a NATO member before joining the European Union.
“According to the logic of the historical process, I can confidently assume that Ukraine will become a NATO member earlier than an EU member”, – Kuleba said in an interview with the online edition LIGA.net, published on Thursday.
However, he refused to voice the time frame when, in his opinion, it is possible. Kuleba also noted that now in NATO, as in 2008, there is no consensus on the timetable for Ukraine’s entry into the alliance, but there is a political consensus that it will eventually join NATO.
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in December 2014 amended two laws, abandoning the non-aligned status of the state. In February 2019, the Ukrainian parliament adopted amendments to the constitution, securing the country’s course towards the EU and NATO. Ukraine has become the sixth state to receive NATO Enhanced Partner status.
Former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said earlier that in order to join the alliance, Ukraine will need to achieve a number of criteria, the implementation of which will take a lot of time. Experts believe that Kiev will not be able to apply for NATO membership in the next 20 years.