MOSCOW, August 29. /ITAR-TASS/. State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Alexei Pushkov said on Friday the United States might give Ukraine the status of a special ally outside NATO. “Ukraine does not meet NATO criteria for several reasons,” Pushkov said.
NATO has never admitted a country that is a state of armed conflict with another country. “NATO rules forbid to admit a country that has territorial disputes with other states,” he added.
“If the Alliance is committed to this criterion, this will be one more fact that will close Ukraine’s path to official membership in NATO,” Pushkov said.
Another thing is that other forms of cooperation exist, he said. “Now Ukraine is asking the US to give it the status of special ally outside NATO. I believe that it is more real today.”
As a whole, prospects for preparing Ukraine’s accession to NATO will depend on the balance of forces inside the Alliance because many European countries consider this fact a threat to their security, Pushkov said.
“Today Ukraine is a state that does not control most of its own territory. Ukraine has embarked on a path of confrontation with Russia, and many European countries interpret the accession of such country as a potential threat to their own security,” he said.