Russia will view Ukraine’s entry into NATO as a threat and will respond “clearly and decisively enough,” the Kremlin warned Monday. on the eve of the summit of the Atlantic Alliance on Tuesday and Wednesday in Vilnius.
This was stated by the spokesman of the Russian presidency, Dmitry Peskov, at the usual daily press conference Russia’s position “is absolutely understandable and consistent” and that Ukraine’s accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) “requires [de Moscovo] a sufficiently comprehensible and firm answer”.
“It will also pose an absolute threat to our country, which will require a clear and determined response from our side,” he stressed, without specifying what kind of response Russia will have in that case.
According to Peskov, “pretty intense discussions” are currently taking place among NATO member states, especially in the run-up to the summit, and that there are “different views” on Ukraine’s membership of the Atlantic Alliance.
In this regard, he warned that Ukraine’s accession to NATO “will have extremely serious consequences for the entire security architecture in Europe, which is already in a state of disrepair”.
the Russian president, Vladimir Putinhas repeatedly railed against NATO’s expansion to the east and accused Alliance members of participating in the conflict by supplying Kiev with weapons.
The Kremlin spokesman said the Kiev regime is “trying to exert pressure in various ways” on all members of the organization “to get as much support and solidarity as possible” for joining the Atlantic Alliance.
United States President Joe Biden acknowledged that no unanimity is needed to invite Ukraine to join the Alliance until the war between Russians and Ukrainians, which began with the invasion of Russia on February 24, 2022, does not end.
Biden also said that Ukraine is “not ready” to join NATO and that it must continue to implement reforms.
With the prospect that the Vilnius summit will not produce the desired results, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has not yet revealed whether or not he will participate in the meeting in the Lithuanian capital.
“I don’t want to go to Vilnius to have fun,” said the Ukrainian leader, demanding to know what decisions will be made at the summit to decide whether it is worth participating to influence what agreement on Ukraine.
In June, Zelensky had already declared that Ukraine’s presence at the summit is pointless if NATO does not give him “a positive sign” in the sense that Kiev is asking for.
Source: DN
