“Step back” for NATO membership Kiev seems to be doing it to avoid a war with Russia, the Ukrainian ambassador to Britain told the BBC on Monday.
Ambassador Vadim Pristaiko told the BBC that Ukraine was prepared to be “flexible” in its goal of joining NATO, a move that Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned would lead to war.
“Maybe, especially as we are being threatened in this way, we are being blackmailed by it and we are being pressured to do so,” Pristaiko said when asked if Kiev could change its stance on NATO membership.
Ukraine is not a member of NATO, but in 2008 she was given the promise that at some point he will join the Alliance.
Putin believes that Ukraine’s growing ties with NATO could make the country a region from which missiles will be fired against Russia. The Russian president has stressed that Moscow must draw “red lines” to avoid it.
A meeting of the members who have signed the Vienna Document of 2011 within the next few hours was requested on Sunday by the Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kouleba, as the clouds of a Russian invasion thicken.
In a statement, the Ukrainian presidency said that Volodymyr Zelensky had invited Joe Biden to visit Ukraine, stressing that such a move would be indicative of US support and would contribute to de-escalation. Joe Biden told the Ukrainian President that the US will respond “immediately and decisively” if Russia takes further steps for invasion, according to the White House.
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