Kiev demands ‘accelerated’ admission to NATO, but the bloc’s chief insisted that it’s not party to the conflict
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky signed an application to join NATO on Friday and demanded an accelerated procedure for admission. While pledging the bloc’s support for Kiev, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg reiterated that joining would require the consensus of all 30 members.
In a video address, Zelensky said Ukraine was already a “de facto NATO ally” and said he was applying to make it official, calling the ceremonial signing of the application a “decisive step.”
“We trust each other, we help each other, and we protect each other,” the AP quoted him as saying.
NATO had announced an “unprecedented” address by Stoltenberg after Zelensky’s video, but when the bloc’s secretary general actually appeared he repeated previous talking points.
“NATO is not party to the conflict, but we provide support to Ukraine so it can uphold its right for self-defense enshrined in the UN charter,” Stoltenberg said. “Ours is a defensive alliance. We stand united and determined to defend and protect every NATO ally and every inch of allied territory.”
When asked if NATO was willing to accept Ukraine’s application, Stoltenberg replied that “every democracy in Europe has the right to apply” but getting accepted would require the consensus of all 30 members.
“Our focus now is providing Ukraine immediate support,” he added.
Stoltenberg also repeated the rejection of Russia’s “illegal annexation” of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions.
“If Russia stops fighting, there will be peace, if Ukraine stops fighting, it will cease to exist as an independent sovereign nation in Europe,” he added, using a variation on a talking point recently embraced by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Zelensky’s wife.
Calling Kiev a “victim of aggression,” Stoltenberg said the bloc must work to “ensure [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin doesn’t win,” because anything else would tell the world that “authoritarian countries like Russia can use force” to achieve their goals.
Taking only four questions from the press, Stoltenberg concluded by repeating, “NATO is not party to the conflict, we support Ukraine but that does not make us party to the conflict.”
RT (Russia Today) is a state-owned news organization funded by the Russian government. The information provided by this news source is being included by the Libertarian Hub not as an endorsement of the Russian government, but rather because it is being actively censored by Big Tech, Western governments and the corporate press. During times of conflict it is imperative that we have access to both sides of the story so we can form our own opinions, even if both sides are spewing their own propaganda. The censorship of RT, despite likely being a propaganda outfit for the Russian government, reduces our ability to hear one side of the conflict. For that reason, the Libertarian Hub will temporarily republish the RSS feed from RT. Visit https://rt.com
