Ukrainian President Petro
Poroshenko says that Ukraine needs at least six or seven years to meet criteria
to acquire NATO membership
"Our position is to reform the country. We need at least six or seven
years to meet the criteria. The world would be more secure if Ukraine had an
opportunity to do that," Poroshenko
told Deutsche Welle in an exclusive interview.
Poroshenko claims he believes Kyiv will
eventually join NATO, despite recent skepticism from European leaders,
including German
Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and
Russia's objections to Ukrainian membership, Deutsche Welle wrote.
"We're a sovereign and independent state,
and we do not need to ask permission neither from Russia nor from anyone else.
Our position is that we need at least six or seven years to reform the country
and meet the criteria. We must conduct the work we should do, and only then
we'll have to ask Ukrainians about this and hold a referendum [to see if] the
Ukrainians accept [NATO] and want to become a NATO member," the president
said.
In his words, accession to NATO was supported by
about 16% of Ukrainians, and nowadays their share is about 60%.
Commenting on the position of Steinmeier who
sees Ukraine's partnership with NATO rather than NATO membership, Poroshenko
said "This is Steinmeier's position in 2015, and no one knows what
position Germany will take in 2022."
Poroshenko says he believes that NATO is the
only effective security system today.
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