PRAGUE, August 31 (RIA Novosti) – Ukraine is not ready to join the European Union or NATO, Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said Sunday.
“Ukraine is not ready for EU membership, not ready for NATO membership… Both organizations should be giving realistic hopes to Ukraine,” the politician told Czech broadcasters.
"If the Ukrainian side sees President Petro Poroshenko’s peace settlement plan as a path to successful solution to the crisis, then it cannot accompany it with ideas of Ukraine’s membership in NATO and the EU," Sobotka added.
On Friday, Ukraine’s Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk introduced legislation to the country’s parliament to drop its “non-aligned bloc” status and renew its path to becoming a member of NATO.
There is still no national consensus on the issue in Ukraine. The eastern regions of Ukraine tend to look to Moscow and consider NATO membership a threat, while the western regions believe membership in the alliance could lead to the country’s integration into the Euro-Atlantic community.
