- Title: Pledging reforms by 2020, Ukraine seeks roadmap to NATO membership
- Date: 10th July 2017
- Summary: KIEV, UKRAINE (JULY 10, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF POROSHENKO, STOLTENBERG AND MEETING PARTICIPANTS POSING FOR PHOTO, WALKING AWAY UKRAINIAN AND NATO FLAGS POROSHENKO AND STOLTENBERG ARRIVING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT PETRO POROSHENKO, SAYING: "Today we finally have a clear understanding that we can strengthen our security only in cooperation with the NATO countries, and the efficient guarantee of the country's security is the future NATO membership. Our recent legislative decision is a clear answer to the question whether Ukraine wants to join the alliance and how resolute we are in striving for our final goal - our Euro-Atlantic integration." MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (English) NATO SECRETARY GENERAL JENS STOLTENBERG, SAYING: "It is clear that the ceasefire is not holding and we are concerned by the increasing threats against the OSCE monitors. The Minsk agreements remain the only path towards peace. Russia must withdraw its thousands of soldiers from Ukraine and stop supporting militants, with command and control and military equipment." MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (English) NATO SECRETARY GENERAL JENS STOLTENBERG, SAYING: "And the process of providing Ukraine with new equipment to some key government institutions, this equipment will help Ukraine to investigate who is behind the different attacks. Attribution is very often a key challenge when it comes to cyber attacks and it will also help Ukraine with defending the key government institutions against cyber attacks." MEDIA STOLTENBERG AND POROSHENKO SHAKING HANDS, LEAVING
- Embargoed: 24th July 2017 14:43
- Keywords: Ukraine NATO Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg Russia
- Location: KIEV, UKRAINE
- City: KIEV, UKRAINE
- Country: Ukraine
- Topics: NATO,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA0036P4VNEV
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Ukraine will begin discussions with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on an action plan to get it into the U.S.-led alliance, its leader said on Monday (July 10), while the country would work on reforms to meet membership standards by 2020.
President Petro Poroshenko, whose country is fighting a Kremlin-backed insurgency in eastern Ukraine, revived the prospect of NATO membership during a visit by NATO Secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg who himself used the occasion to call on Moscow to withdraw its troops from Ukraine.
NATO leaders agreed at a summit in 2008 that Ukraine would one day become a member of the alliance. But there was little popular support for the issue at the time and it was never pursued by Ukraine's pro-Russian president, Viktor Yanukovich.
Support for NATO membership however has soared since Russia's annexation of Crimea in March 2014, following the fall of Yanukovich, and the outbreak of the war in eastern Ukraine, which has killed more than 10,000 people.
Some 69 percent of Ukrainians want to join NATO, according to a June poll by the Democratic Initiatives Foundation, compared to 28 percent support in 2012 when Yanukovich was in power.
Most observers say any prospect of NATO membership for Ukraine is years off. No dates were issued for when talks on a membership action plan might begin.
A NATO spokeswoman said these would relate to defense, anti-corruption measures, governance and law enforcement. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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