“German Defense Minister Says It’s Too Early to Discuss Ukraine’s NATO Membership, Despite Support from NATO Secretary-General”

21.04.2023

On the 20th, the Secretary-General of NATO paid a surprise visit to Ukraine and expressed his support for Ukraine’s accession to NATO. On the same day, the German Defense Minister said that it was too early to discuss the matter at this time. In July this year, NATO will hold a summit in Lithuania. Is it possible for Ukraine to become a member of NATO?

(Deutsche Welle Chinese website) German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (Boris Pistorius) said on a talk show on Thursday (April 20) that it is too early to decide whether to allow Ukraine to join NATO. “The door is open a crack, but it’s not the time to decide yet.” He believes that the option cannot be seriously discussed while the war is still raging.

Pistorius said that for Ukraine to join, any next move by NATO must be carefully considered. “Decisions should be made with a cool head and a passionate heart, not the other way around,” he said.

NATO Secretary-General makes surprise visit to Ukraine

On the same day, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg (Jens Stoltenberg) suddenly appeared in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, and expressed support for Ukraine’s joining NATO: “Ukraine’s future exists in the Euro-Atlantic family, in NATO, All allies agree on that.”

This is Stoltenberg’s first visit to Kiev since the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian war, and the itinerary was not announced in advance. In addition to paying tribute to the Ukrainian soldiers who died on the battlefield, he also visited the Russian military equipment on display in the central square of Kiev.

In a joint news conference, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said: “Now that NATO countries and the majority of people in Ukraine support our country’s entry into the alliance, it is time to make an appropriate decision.”

Ukraine expected to join NATO?

Earlier, Stoltenberg had invited Zelensky to attend the NATO summit in Lithuania in July this year. He said on the 20th that Ukraine’s accession to NATO will be an important agenda item of the summit.

In September last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed to annex four regions of Ukraine, and Zelensky immediately announced that Ukraine had formally applied to join NATO. Zelensky said at the time that Ukraine had proven compatible with NATO norms de facto, so now it was time to make this de jure true.

Nevertheless, the prospect of Ukraine joining NATO is still unclear. In early April this year, the Lithuanian parliament unanimously passed a resolution to formally invite Ukraine to join NATO at the summit in July.

However, the British “Financial Times” quoted people familiar with the matter as saying in early April that,NATO has divided positions on how Ukraine should join NATO. Lithuania, Poland and others believe Ukraine’s NATO membership should be offered at July summitpolitical path“(political path), but the United States and Germany have reservations about this, advocating that they should focus on military, financial and humanitarian support in the short term, and help Ukraine win the war first.

On the 20th, just after Stoltenberg arrived in Kiev, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov (Dmitry Peskov) reiterated Russia’s position, saying that if Ukraine joined NATO, Russia’s security would be threatened. He said that the important goal of Russia’s “special military operation” is to prevent this from happening.

Previously, Russia had repeatedly criticized “NATO expansion“, China is also on the same side with Russia on this matter, asking the West to “attach importance and properly resolve” Russia’s demands.In this regard, former US President Bill Clinton onceRefuting the argument that “NATO expansion is the main cause of war”arguing that if NATO had not expanded, the peace might have been broken sooner.

(DPA, AFP, Reuters, Associated Press, Financial Times)

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