President Biden says Ukraine should not count on US to make its NATO membership 'easy'
Biden's latest comments come just days after the 80-year-old Democrat said the US is 'open' to removing the major hurdles blocking Ukraine's membership into the military alliance after the war
US President Joe Biden speaks to the media before departing the White House for Camp David, in Washington, May 26, 2023. Reuters/File
President Joe Biden on Saturday said that the US would not make any special arrangements to ensure Ukraine’s entry into NATO.
“They’ve got to meet the same standards. So we’re not going to make it easy,” the US president told reporters near Washington.
His latest comments come just days after the 80-year-old Democrat said the US is “open” to removing the major hurdles blocking Ukraine’s membership into the military alliance after the war.
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Biden, however, did not specify the exact date when Kyiv can join the military alliance.
According to a report by Politico, two US officials said that Biden had earlier welcomed the removal of the Membership Action Plan (MAP), which requires a candidate nation to make military and democratic reforms based on NATO’s suggestions, to facilitate Ukraine’s membership.
A senior official said, “We are engaging with our NATO allies on this middle-ground approach to determine whether it can gain consensus.”
“We are seeking to find common ground on language that supports NATO’s commitment to Ukraine’s transatlantic integration,” the official added.
NATO’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said earlier this week that the alliance’s support for Ukraine is making a big difference in the war.
“The support NATO allies have been giving Ukraine now for many, many months actually makes a difference on the battlefield,” he said.
On the other hand, Stoltenberg added that though NATO will tighten political ties with Ukraine at the upcoming summit in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius, there will be no talk of membership for Kyiv.
“We’re not going to discuss an invitation at the Vilnius Summit, but how we can move Ukraine closer to NATO,” Stoltenberg said.
“I’m confident that we will find a good solution and consensus.”
NATO nations in eastern Europe have pushed for a better roadmap for Ukraine to obtain membership, but key allies like the United States and Germany have been reluctant to go much beyond a vague 2014 pledge that Kyiv will join one day.
With inputs from AFP
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