She added that in a break from previous practice, this year’s program features a list of concrete measures to reform the country’s defense and security sectors using resources provided by NATO.
In December 2014, Ukraine suspended its non-aligned status and confirmed its intention to join NATO.
Experts still believe that within the next 20 years Ukraine will hardly be able to join the Western defense alliance.
Among the many hurdles blocking Ukraine’s aspired NATO membership is a provision preventing the inclusion of countries, which have territorial disputes with other countries. Ukraine claims ownership of Crimea, which rejoined Russia in March 2014.
“Ukraine has been trying to join NATO for quite some time now. [President Leonid] Kuchma tried this even before the first Maidan in 2004, only to back off later. The Ukrainians’ talk about joining NATO is more about rhetoric and politics than real substance,” he said.
He added that Ukraine did not really need to join NATO because it has already tuned itself into a US colony.
“The people who now rule supreme in Ukraine are nothing more than kleptocrats who are enriching themselves under the disguise of aspiring for some lofty foreign political goals,” Uralov noted.
“NATO has split the Ukrainian society as the majority of Ukrainians are holding out for a bloc-free status and many want to unite with Russia and Belarus,” Semyon Uralov emphasized.
He agreed with other experts in that Ukraine will not be able to join NATO any time soon.
“They can’t do this simply because Ukraine is in a state of a civil war and taking such a country on board makes no sense. For example, why would the Czechs want Ukraine in? Ukraine’s inclusion will cause another big split, this time in Europe,” Semyon Uralov said.
In March, Ukraine and NATO agreed on a set of reforms that the Ukrainian Armed Forces must undergo to comply with the Alliance's standards, following the signing of a road map on defense-technical cooperation in December 2015.
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