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NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that NATO had already decided to accept Ukraine and Georgia. He also noted that the conditions for joining the alliance for new members have not been set.
“In 2008, we decided that Ukraine and Georgia would become members,” he said in an interview. s La Repubblica. “But we did not specify when exactly.”
The Secretary General recalled that Kiev had previously turned to NATO with a corresponding request, because the country was supported in terms of reforms, modernizing the army according to bloc standards. He expressed the view that Ukraine's defense capabilities are currently higher than in 2014.
At the same time, Stoltenberg reminded that the principle of NATO's collective defense applies only to the member countries to which Ukraine officially belongs. not yet valid.
The day before, the Georgian authorities thanked Stoltenberg for “supporting sovereignty”. In particular, President Salome Zurabishvili referred to the corresponding “important statement” made by the NATO Secretary General following the Russia-NATO Council meeting. Stoltenberg later said that the alliance did not intend to compromise on the issue of expansion to the east.