NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday that all NATO members agree that Ukraine will become a member of the alliance.

EDITED BY |PAUL MITCHEL  - ADAM LURKED

POLITICS NEWS SECTION

2 JUNE 2023 

    Stoltenberg told reporters before an informal meeting of foreign ministers of NATO member states ;

"All allies agree that Moscow has no right to object to the enlargement of the alliance," 

"We are moving, the allies agree that Ukraine will become a member," said NATO Secretary General, according to Reuters.

For his part, the French Foreign Minister said that Ukraine should obtain NATO membership.

The French minister added: "We must think within NATO about providing security guarantees to Ukraine."

And earlier in May, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that there is a division among the members of the alliance over the question of Ukraine's membership, which will be on the agenda of the Vilnius summit in July.

"There are different points of view within the alliance on this issue," Stoltenberg said, noting that "decision-making in NATO is by consensus."

He continued, "No one can know exactly what will be the final decision at the Vilnius summit on this issue."

According to several diplomats from NATO member states, the United States and several other allies refuse to go beyond the Bucharest Declaration, according to AFP.

The members of the alliance had confirmed during the Bucharest summit in 2008 that Ukraine and Georgia "will become members of NATO", without specifying a timetable.

Ukraine's accession to NATO allows it to use the collective defense clause in the alliance's charter, which requires all allies to defend another member in the event of an attack.

One diplomat said discussions were underway "to build the foundations for a membership settlement".

For her part, a spokeswoman for the French Foreign Ministry said that Paris "is ready to agree to agreements with Ukraine aimed at giving it security guarantees to help it defend itself in the long term and prevent any possible future attacks."

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