Ukrainian Ambassador to Italy Yevhen Perelyhin criticized the official position of Italy over the prospects of Ukraine's joining NATO.
This follows from his letter to newly appointed Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni, who in an interview with German press has said that Ukraine should guarantee it wouldn’t join NATO.
The ambassador drew attention to the already existing legal provisions assuring Ukraine’s non-NATO ally status, which, however, hadn’t protected Ukraine from Russia’s aggression.
Ukraine’s non-NATO ally status guaranteed by the law, unfortunately, failed to protect Ukraine from foreign aggression by one of the countries, which promised to guarantee Ukraine’s sovereignty and its territorial integrity (according to Budapest Memorandum 1994), the ambassador said.
According to him, the decision on Ukraine to join international blocs or not is for the Ukrainian people only.
I hope that, Italy will be guided by the abovementioned arguments in such important issues, as well as by the understanding that the tragic reality of today’s Ukraine is a result of the aggressor’s severe violation of fundamental basics of the international law and current world order, Perelyhin said.
In addition, the ambassador expressed gratitude to Italian Foreign Minister for his support of Ukraine’s European aspirations and noted that the country had already paid the highest price for the chance to choose its future.
