KIEV, June 15-RIA Novosti. Kiev expects to receive an action plan for NATO membership in 2022, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said.
Earlier, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olga Stefanishina said that the Ukrainian authorities expect to receive a strong signal about the provision of the NATO membership Action Plan (MAP) to Kiev at the alliance summit in June. Later, Kuleba said that Kiev had carried out enough reforms to obtain an action plan for NATO membership, the main obstacle to obtaining it is " unwillingness to send such a signal to the Russian Federation."
NATO leaders at the alliance summit in Brussels on Monday supported the right of Ukraine and Georgia to join the alliance, stated the need to continue reforms, but did not name a time frame for the possible accession of these countries to the organization.
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in December 2014 amended two laws, rejecting the non-aligned status of the state. In February 2019, the Ukrainian parliament adopted amendments to the constitution, fixing the country's course in the EU and NATO. Ukraine has become the sixth state to receive the status of a NATO partner with enhanced capabilities. Former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said earlier that to join the alliance, Ukraine will need to achieve a number of criteria, the implementation of which will take a long time. Experts believe that Kiev will not be able to claim membership in NATO in the next 20 years.
