Ukraine should itself decide on accession to NATO – Norwegian foreign minister

Monday, September 1, 2014 - 17:49 (EEST) Section: Latest news

Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende has said that Ukraine should itself decide on the question of joining NATO.
He said this at a joint press conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin in Kyiv on Monday, a Ukrinform correspondent reported.
“It’s up to the country itself to decide of which alliances it wants to be a member. If Ukraine believes that it wants to apply for membership of NATO, NATO has procedures for this,” he said.
He said that a special challenge in this regard is the situation in the Donbas and the need for political and economic reforms in Ukraine. “Together and in solidarity we will try to resolve these difficulties,” Brende said.
Norway is a member of NATO, but not a member of the European Union.