US President Biden backs NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg’s plan to announce that Ukraine will not need to complete a “Membership Action Plan” (MAP) to join the alliance
It is reported by RBC-Ukraine with reference to Axios .
Stoltenberg put forward a proposal at the White House on Tuesday, according to the publication’s sources, under which the alliance would say that Ukraine has made progress towards membership and will not need to complete the step-by-step MAP process that other Eastern European members have previously gone through.
The MAP process sets out specific criteria and reforms and may take years or even decades to complete.
According to one of the sources, Biden was looking for a “golden mean” that could unite NATO, and supported this idea. It is not yet clear whether this wording will suit Zelensky and the other 30 NATO members.
Disputes about Ukraine’s prospects
Before the July NATO summit, discussions on Ukraine’s entry into the Alliance intensified. The topic of “security guarantees” for Ukraine is also being actively discussed . Yet Western officials acknowledge that NATO’s Article 5 mutual defense obligations are the only real “guarantee of security.”
According to CNN, United States President Joe Biden and his team are in the midst of negotiations trying to persuade allies to support Ukraine’s entry into NATO .
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Ukraine expects to have a “clear timetable for entry” after the summit .
