[ad_1]
Ukraine’s Defense Minister Andriy Taran hopes that the next stage of the country’s cooperation with NATO will be implemented at the Alliance summit in 2021.
Ukraine does not back down from its strategic objective of joining NATO. This is what the country’s defense minister, Andrei Taran, told “Uryadov Kur’ur” in an interview published on December 5.
“We have a fairly developed cooperation with the Alliance. However, bearing in mind a certain strategic objective, we plan to initiate an intensive phase of our relations with NATO. In a way, this is facilitated by the status of partner with expanded capabilities that Ukraine received in June this year, “he said.
According to the minister, Ukraine is ready “to increase national contributions to NATO-led operations, send additional military and civilian personnel to work in Alliance structures, and begin to take practical steps to establish real-time information exchange. using automated systems “.
“All of this should make us stronger and much closer to the strategic goal of full membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. And in this context, we clearly define our ambitions to receive an action plan for NATO membership and look forward to the full political support of NATO allies to make such a decision on the Alliance’s next summit in 2021, “explained Taran.
He noted that this was also discussed in a recent meeting with NATO representatives.
“There is no deviation from course; on the contrary, we are redoubling our efforts on the path of Euro-Atlantic integration,” Taran stressed.
Ukraine stepped up cooperation with NATO in 2014 amid Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the armed conflict in Donbas. In late 2014, Verkhovna Rada adopted a law that provides for Ukraine’s abandonment of its policy of non-alignment.
According to the Military Doctrine of Ukraine, adopted in 2015, deepening cooperation with NATO and achieving full compatibility of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with the armies of NATO member countries by 2020 is a priority task.
On March 9, 2018, NATO announced that it would recognize Ukraine as a graduate country, a candidate for membership in the Alliance.
In December 2019, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced that Ukraine and Georgia will be members of the Alliance, but it is too early to determine the exact deadline for accession.
On February 7, 2019, the Ukrainian parliament adopted a law introducing into the Constitution a provision on the strategic course of the state for the acquisition of Ukraine’s full membership in the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The law went into effect on February 21.
On February 5, 2020, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the annual Ukraine-NATO national program.
According to the Defense Ministry, in 2021, the Ukrainian Navy will participate in Operation Marine Guard in the Mediterranean Sea. Together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, the defense department is taking steps to send two representatives of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to the NATO mission in Iraq in 2021.
[ad_2]
