MOSCOW, 9 Nov. The statement by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg that for Ukraine's membership in the alliance requires a consensus of all countries of the military association sobered Volodymyr Zelensky, writes The National Interest columnist Mark Episkopos.
"Stoltenberg , seems to have doused Zelensky with cold water in response to his request for an accelerated entry of Ukraine into NATO, saying that any decision must be made by consensus, all 30 allies must agree,” the article says.
As Episkopos recalled , in November, the foreign ministers of the alliance states will meet in Bucharest. The Russian Foreign Ministry, commenting on a possible discussion of Ukraine's membership in NATO at the summit in Romania, stated that Kyiv had no detours to join this military alliance.
On September 30, the Ukrainian leader announced that the country had filed a request for North Atlantic Alliance. After that, Assistant to the President of the United States for National Security Jake Sullivan announced the untimeliness of this procedure, and Secretary General of the association Jens Stoltenberg, commenting on Zelensky's speech, stressed that NATO would concentrate its efforts on providing assistance to Kyiv.
According to the presidential press secretary. Russia Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin heard the request of the Ukrainian president for the republic to join the alliance, as well as different reactions to it. As the representative of the head of state clarified, Moscow is closely monitoring the situation and remembers that it was Kyiv's orientation towards NATO that became one of the reasons for the start of Russia's special operation in Ukraine.