Peskov: Russia needs a 100% guarantee of Ukraine’s non-entry into NATO
Moscow – Kyiv, November 19 (PolitNavigator, Mikhail Stamm) – Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov stated that Russia would like a 100% guarantee that no one will consider Ukraine joining NATO. According to him, Russia wants to hear that NATO "will stop advancing toward Russia's borders and cease attempts to upset the balance of power," RBC reports.
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“We would like to hear a 100% guarantee that no one will think about Ukraine joining NATO,” Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with the BBC. He said this during the “Action Forum” of the All-Russian Popular Front. According to him, Russia wants to hear that NATO will “stop approaching Russian borders and stop trying to upset the balance of power.” However, Russia “does not hear this.”
At the end of August, Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk submitted to the Verkhovna Rada a bill to renounce Ukraine's non-bloc status. “The Government of Ukraine is submitting to parliament a law on the abolition of the non-aligned status of the Ukrainian state and on the resumption of Ukraine’s course towards NATO membership. Also, according to the law, the main and main goal of Ukraine in foreign policy is membership in the EU,” Yatsenyuk said. The bill also provided for a ban on Ukraine's membership in the Customs and Eurasian Union.
Two weeks later, he said that NATO was not ready to accept Ukraine in the short term. “We must recognize that in certain circumstances NATO is the only way to protect Ukraine... In the short term, NATO is not ready to accept Ukraine, but, as the Bible says, if you knock on doors, they will open. That’s why we decided to knock,” Yatsenyuk said.
Peskov: Russia needs 100% guarantees that Ukraine will not join NATO.