A Ukrainian Foreign Ministry official said Ukraine as a sovereign state will decide whether it should enter NATO or not and does not accept any pressure in this issue.
“Ukraine is an independent, sovereign state. And only the people of Ukraine have a right to decide what course our country should follow and what organizations it should enter. We do not need outside advice and we don’t accept pressure in these issues,” Yevhen Perebyinis, spokesman for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, commenting on Russia’s wish to get guarantees that Ukraine will not enter NATO.
Perebyinis said Ukraine would also like to receive 100 percent guarantees from Russia that it will not interfere in the internal affairs of the country, send its troops and annex Ukrainian territories.
“So far, Russia can’t give such guarantees, and Moscow may not have noticed that it outrages the whole world,” Perebyinis said.
Russian presidential press officer Dmitry Peskov said earlier in an interview with the BBC that Russia needs guarantees that no one is considering Ukraine’s accession to NATO. However, Peskov said no one has given Russia such guarantees, which makes Moscow worry and makes it take precautions. Peskov also accused the West of trying to “encircle” Russia.
Robert Pszczel, director of the NATO Information Office in Moscow, for his part, told Interfax that NATO was surprised by Peskov’s statement that Russia needs guarantees that Ukraine will not enter NATO.
Pszczel said there are two reasons for such a reaction to the Russian presidential press officer’s statement. He said the first reason is the fact that Ukraine is currently not a candidate to become a NATO member and the second reason is that all issues relating to the admission of the country in NATO can only be discussed by NATO members, and Russia is not a member of NATO.
