Deputy Foreign Minister Grushko said that NATO enlargement did not contribute to the alliance’s security.
20th November 2002
NATO Summit Meeting in Prague, Czech Republic
North Atlantic Council Meeting at the level of Heads of State and Government.
North Atlantic Council Meeting with Invitees at the level of Heads of State and Government.
– General View
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry’s deputy foreign minister, Grushko, said that NATO expansion did not contribute to the alliance’s security.
Only a madman can think now about Ukraine’s joining NATO, Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko has said. This was reported by RIA Novosti.
“This is if we proceed from the rational behavior of the West. But it is irrational,” the diplomat said.
He believes that NATO is forgetting the principle that no one strengthens their security at the expense of the security of others.
“We have committed ourselves not to take any steps that could significantly affect each other’s security. If one side says don’t do it, don’t do it – you have to sit down and agree on how to ensure the security of both NATO and Russia and how to ensure the security of Ukraine. This was not done under the pretext that Ukraine itself wanted to do it, while NATO only responded to the request of a sovereign state, and in general it is part of the principle that states choose their own ways of ensuring security,” Grushko added.
The enlargement of the North Atlantic Alliance does not contribute to strengthening the security of the bloc itself, the diplomat said.
“By the way, the admission of Finland and Sweden worsens the security of NATO, because it creates a line of contact of over 1200 kilometres with Russia, which is NATO’s main opponent and a threat to the alliance itself,” the deputy foreign minister concluded.