Ukraine and Georgia to become NATO members, but when exactly is open question - Stoltenberg

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has decided to include Ukraine and Georgia in the Alliance, but the date for their entry has not yet been set. This was stated by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in an interview with La Repubblica, - RBC-Ukraine reports.

"Ukraine has already applied for membership and we decided to work on it, supporting its reforms and helping to modernize the armed forces to our standards. In 2008, we decided that Ukraine and Georgia would become members (of NATO - ed.), but we did not establish exactly when", - Stoltenberg said.

He noted that only Ukraine should decide whether to join NATO or not and stressed that the Russian Federation has no right to interfere in this issue.

When asked whether Ukraine could join NATO in the next few months, Stoltenberg replied: "Now the reform agenda is aid to Ukraine. I repeat: now it is about Russian aggression. They occupied part of Ukraine – the Crimea, control the Donbas with the support of separatists, and then they want to force us to accept a legally binding treaty that would violate national sovereignty".

Stoltenberg stated earlier that the two countries could quickly join the Alliance. According to him, this requires a political solution. The NATO Secretary General spoke about the deployment of troops in the east and stated that the Alliance would not compromise on expansion issues. After that, Russia accused NATO of "luring" Ukraine and the Scandinavian countries into its ranks.