Ukraine needs integration into NATO – Kravchuk

Monday, December 1, 2014 - 18:10 (EET) Section: Latest news

Ukraine should seek protection from the outside as it has an aggressive neighbor – Russia.
First Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk said this at a press conference at Ukrinform on Monday, an agency reporter said.
“I do not exclude the possibility that we have to prepare ourselves – to prepare force, weapons, people and switch the entire economy to the protection of Ukraine, rather than talk about it, and to work every day. But NATO integration is necessary,” Kravchuk said.
He recalled that the Budapest Memorandum states that the doors for accession to NATO are open for Ukraine and Georgia. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the opinion of the people – to hold a referendum and then work on specific steps, he said.
“If people want so, nobody will say no to us,” the politician said, adding that in the meantime, given the different “weight categories” of Russia and Ukraine, the Western countries and the United States should provide help for Ukraine.