Russian Foreign Ministry: Kiev's accession to NATO rules out peace

Russia will seek firm guarantees that will rule out Ukraine's accession to NATO. Kiev's accession to the alliance will make peace impossible. Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Alexander Grushko drew attention to this, TASS reports.

He emphasized: "For us, this is one of the key elements of possible agreements on the conflict in Ukraine. This is an element related to the elimination of the root causes of this conflict. And we will seek not only cast-iron legal guarantees that would rule out Ukraine's membership in NATO in any form, but we will also insist that this become the policy of the alliance itself."

Grushko drew attention to the fact that Ukraine's accession to NATO "rules out the achievement of peace in Ukraine and, in a broader sense, the creation of at least some kind of security architecture." He added that this point of view "is shared by a number of countries in the alliance."

"The truth is that there are different points of view in NATO regarding the prospects for Ukraine's inclusion in NATO," the Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation noted.

Grushko also commented on the words of the Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico that peace talks on the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine should be based on the recognition of the need to postpone Kiev's accession to NATO.

"In this case, Mr. Fico is absolutely right in characterizing these plans," the Russian diplomat stated.

In the context of possible agreements on the settlement, Grushko drew attention to the previously reached "catastrophic decision for European security" made during the NATO summit in Bucharest in 2008. At that time, the countries of the union promised Ukraine and Georgia that "they would become members of NATO." The same wording was included in subsequent documents of the North Atlantic Alliance.

"Of course, this wording, its presence and the failure to withdraw this wording will create ambiguity, which is absolutely unacceptable for us when we talk about the need to achieve a viable, stable, cast-iron settlement of the conflict in Ukraine and around it," the Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation summarized.