Stoltenberg: Timeframe for Ukraine and Georgia to join NATO not set yet

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has decided to admit Ukraine and Georgia, but didn’t set a deadline, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in an interview published in the La Repubblica newspaper on January 14, Report informs referring to TASS.

Ukraine has already requested to join, and NATO has decided to work towards this by supporting its reforms, helping to modernize the armed forces to the alliance’s standards. In 2008, it was decided that Ukraine and Georgia would become NATO members, but the exact time wasn’t set, Stoltenberg said.

In his opinion, Ukraine now has a much higher defensive capacity than it was in 2014. The secretary-general also reminded that the principle of collective defense applies only to NATO member states. However, Kyiv isn’t yet part of NATO. The obligation to protect allies applies only to NATO members, he reminded. Stoltenberg also pointed out that the decision to join NATO is a matter of Ukraine and 30 member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.