WASHINGTON, September 5 (RIA Novosti) - NATO made efforts to pretend that the Ukrainian government’s draft law to further pursue full NATO membership never actually happened, executive vice president of the Atlantic Council, Damon Wilson said Friday.
“There was almost an effort to just pretend like that didn’t happen and not talk about that, or only acknowledge that here at NATO,” Wilson told RIA Novosti, on Ukrainian legislation calling for full NATO membership.
He continued that this “underscores reluctance [for] more decisive action, certainly on the military side.”
Ukrainian membership would bring that country under the Article 5 provision, that an attack against one member warrants a response from all members.
Contrary to other reports, the executive vice president of the Atlantic Council claimed that the legislation put before the Ukrainian parliament had been “tabled” prior to the Wales summit.
“It’s interesting, the Ukraine government tabled a draft law just on the eve of the summit that would raise the issue of whether to restore the aspirations for ultimate NATO membership as part of Ukrainian policy,” Wilson told RIA Novosti during an Atlantic Council conference call.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk introduced legislation into the Parliament on August 29, which would put Ukraine back on a path to officially joining NATO. On Wednesday, just prior to the opening of the NATO summit in Wales, Yatsenyuk stated that his government sought “to receive a special status between Ukraine and NATO.”
Secretary General of NATO, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, issued a statement after meeting with Ukrainian government officials, that NATO would respect whatever decision the government of Ukraine made, concerning membership in the alliance. Ahead of the summit, however, numerous experts doubted the likelihood of a unanimous approval by NATO member states for Ukrainian membership.
