Foreign Ministry: Ukraine may get status of major non-NATO ally

Wednesday, September 24, 2014 - 09:27 (EEST) Section: Latest news

Ukraine hopes to receive the status of a major non-NATO ally in November 2014.
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Yevhen Perebyinis said this in a program aired by the 112 Ukraine television channel.
“It’s currently a pre-election period in the United States, therefore the Senate sessions, at which such a decision [on granting Ukraine the status of a major non-NATO ally] could finally be taken, are not expected in the near future. The closest [session is expected] in November. We hope that in November the Senate will be able to approve such a resolution as a whole,” he said.
Perebyinis said that during President Petro Poroshenko’s visit to Washington the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations had approved “a very important resolution that has yet to be voted by the entire Senate, which refers to a range of activities, including additional sanctions against Russia and granting Ukraine the status of a major non-NATO ally.” “This issue has not completely been dropped from the agenda, because the Senate Committee made this decision. We expect that in the coming months this decision will be approved,” the diplomat said.
Earlier, Poroshenko said that the country would not receive the status of a major non-NATO ally of the United States.