25.02.2021, Moscow.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky discussed Kiev’s cooperation with NATO during a telephone conversation with the Alliance’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, he wrote about this on Twitter on February 25.
Zelensky wrote that he pleased to hear from Jens Stoltenberg that the door of NATO is open for Ukraine. “Our immediate goal is MAP [NATO Membership Action Plan]. We are serious about reforms, as they are first of all enhancing our defense sector.”
He added that “cooperation with NATO is extremely important for Ukraine. We are reinforcing our army by adhering to Alliance’s standards, sharing practical experience, developing strategic partnership and friendship,” Zelensky pointed out.
In 2015, Ukraine adopted a military doctrine, according to which by 2020 the Ukrainian army should be fully compatible with the armies of NATO. In 2019, Zelensky, then elected to the presidency of the country, confirmed the invariability of this course.
In February 2019, the Verkhovna Rada [Ukrainian Parliament] adopted amendments to the constitution that enshrined the country’s course to join NATO with phrasing about the “irreversibility of the Euro-Atlantic course.”
Earlier, Kiev said that in the short term, the country should receive a MAP, which would be the first legal step to join the alliance. Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said that now “there are three Eastern Partnership countries that are the most prepared in terms of MAP – Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine”. According to him, a series of joint exercises with NATO will take place in 2021, “which will give an opportunity to demonstrate our level.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
