Ukraine in NATO ‘unacceptable’ — Moscow

Russia began its military campaign against Kiev because of the bloc’s inching towards its borders, Deputy FM Sergey Ryabkov says

Russia can never accept Ukraine’s potential accession to NATO as it would fundamentally threaten the country’s national security, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov has stated.

Having long aspired to join the US-led military bloc, Ukraine filed an official application in September 2022. President Vladimir Putin had already pointed to Kiev’s NATO aspirations as a key reason for Moscow’s military campaign against the neighboring state. 

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Ryabkov reiterated that “Ukraine’s membership in NATO is categorically unacceptable to us, and the dragging of Ukraine into NATO was one of the main reasons for the start of the special military operation.” 

Moscow “cannot let the hostile bloc come closer to Russia’s frontiers,” the diplomat added.

The official also claimed that the majority of Ukrainian citizens, many of whom are either ethnic Russians or Russian-speaking, “do not share these so-called Atlantic ambitions” of the current leadership in Kiev. 

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In an interview to prominent US journalist Tucker Carlson earlier this month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov similarly insisted that the “key principle is non-bloc status of Ukraine.”

“No NATO. Absolutely,” the minister reiterated.  

In a post on his Telegram channel on Monday, Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky wrote that he was “going to call President Biden in the near future… and raise the issue of the invitation to NATO.” The official clarified that while the Democrat’s term in office will soon come to an end, he still calls the shots on such foreign policy decisions.

“There is no point discussing [this] with Trump, while he is not yet in the White House,” Zelensky added.

Ukraine has consistently argued that accession to the military bloc is the “only real security guarantee” for the country, naming it as a key precondition for a potential ceasefire with Russia.

While President Biden has so far publicly resisted Ukraine’s calls, the Financial Times reported in October that he could eventually relent and advance the status of Ukraine’s NATO membership bid before he leaves office in January.

However, earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal claimed that President-elect Donald Trump’s “team has shown little interest in offering Ukraine membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.”

In recent weeks, several media outlets also carried a number of peace plans prepared by the Republican’s advisers, all of which envisage Ukraine giving up on its aspiration to join NATO.