Ukraine can become a member NATO with the occupied Donbass and Crimea, since we are not talking about a territorial dispute – the world community recognizes the integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders.
This opinion was expressed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia Edgars Rinkevics in an interview TSN… He called the question of this requirement of the Alliance for its members very appropriate.
“Going back to 1995, NATO issued a Study on NATO Enlargement. Many people have forgotten that, for example, Latvia had an unresolved border issue with Russia until 2007. In 1945, Russia took part of our territory and declared that it was part of RSFSR.
Estonia also had a similar situation with part of their territory. When we started joining NATO and the EU, both organizations said that they can only accept members without territorial disputes. We and our Estonian friends signed a border treaty, which was ratified by the parliaments of Latvia and Russia. The Estonian treaty is still in the process of ratification, “the minister said.
He believes that Georgia and Ukraine, which are going to NATO, have a different situation, because South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Crimea are occupied by the armed forces of the Russian Federation.
“South Ossetia and Abkhazia declared the so-called” independence. “Nobody, except Russia and perhaps a few other countries, recognized this. Crimea is a slightly different story. We recognize Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders, which means that we recognize Crimea as a part Therefore, we think that there is no territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia, or between Georgia and Russia, “Rinkevichs explained.
However, he pointed out, this issue will continue to be debated by academic and political circles.
“But, I repeat, I believe that there is no territorial dispute between Russia and Ukraine. There is a Russian occupation of a part of Ukrainian territory, which is not recognized by the international community – the UN, the General Assembly and others. Therefore, we should not consider this as an obstacle,” assures Rinkevichs.
The Latvian Foreign Minister pointed out that the presence of the occupied territories will be used by Russian propaganda and diplomacy when the issue of Ukraine’s membership in the Alliance will be closer.
“And this will also become the subject of consultations between Ukraine and NATO,” he said.
We will remind, earlier the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia Rinkevich said that Ukraine should get a Membership Action Plan now in the North Atlantic Alliance.
As previously wrote OBOZREVATEL:
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