The Russian Foreign Minister complained that the West was “not ready” to accept their proposals.

Sergey Lavrov / photo REUTERS

NATO refused to guarantee Russia compliance with the principle of non-inclusion of Ukraine into the Alliance.

This was stated by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during a meeting of the Russian Security Council, which discusses the aggravation of the situation in the Ukrainian Donbas.

“We prepared an assessment of the proposals for security guarantees that Russia put forward to the United States and NATO. At the end of January, we received a reaction. The assessment of this reaction shows that Western colleagues are not ready to accept our proposals, primarily regarding the non-expansion of NATO to the East, motivated by the will of each state. Alternatives to this proposal have not been proposed,” Lavrov said.

Ukraine and NATO: what is known about the path to the Alliance

The  communiqué following the last summit of the Alliance  in Brussels on June 14, 2021 noted that Ukraine will become a member of NATO through the implementation of the Membership Action Plan.

US President Joe Biden said that Russia’s occupation of part of Ukrainian territories does not affect NATO membership, but Ukraine must get rid of corruption. Ukraine must meet certain criteria in order to receive the MAP, he noted.

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called on NATO countries to provide Ukraine with a MAP in 2022.

On December 1, 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he wants to receive  guarantees from the West that Ukraine will not join NATO .

NATO Secretary General  Jens Stoltenberg has repeatedly stressed that NATO will not make concessions to Russia on Ukraine’s approach to membership. According to him, Ukraine has the right to protection and, together with NATO, will determine the issue of membership in the Alliance.

On February 14, 2022, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany Olaf Scholz said in Kiev that the  issue of Ukraine’s membership in NATO is not yet  on the agenda.

(C)UNIAN 2022