NATO recognizes Ukraine's aspirations for membership in the alliance
NATO acknowledged Ukraine's desire to gain full membership in the organization, as noted on the Alliance’s website, in the section dedicated to the expansion of NATO.
Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze wrote on Facebook that the site was updated on Friday evening after her conversation with NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller.
"Thus, at last, in the evening, the NATO official website says that presently four countries, including Ukraine, have announced their intentions to become members of the North Atlantic Alliance in the future. From recognition of ambitions to the membership is a long way consisting first of all of an internal effort, but we can successfully pass it if we will deliberately change the country in accordance with the democratic, social, economic, political and, of course, military principles and approaches of NATO," Klympush-Tsintsadze wrote.
As reported on the NATO website, at the moment, there are four aspirant countries: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Georgia, Macedonia and Ukraine. "Aspirant countries" are countries that have declared their aspirations to NATO membership. They are invited to engage in an intensified dialogue with NATO about their membership aspirations and related reforms, the Alliance explains.
Until this recent development, NATO had refused to officially recognize Ukraine's desire to acquire NATO membership. Until Friday, the NATO website had claimed that Ukraine "has no formal aspirations for membership."
A section of the NATO website dedicated to Ukraine was also updated. A block on the decision of the Verkhovna Rada made on June 8, 2017 regarding membership in NATO as Ukraine's strategic goal was added.