MOSCOW, July 18. /TASS/. Ukrainian Defense Minister Alexey Reznikov has suggested that the provision on the non-deployment of foreign military bases be removed from article 17 of the Ukrainian constitution.

"The clause on the non-deployment of foreign military bases has become obsolete. Naturally, if need be, we can find some legal wording not to call a base a base but something like a ‘center for cooperation and experience exchange.’ But what for? It’s better to remove this restriction, which has lost its relevance, so as not to leave any room for speculation," he wrote in an article posted on the website of the Liga.net media outlet.

He also called for amending his country’s constitution by adding a provision that Ukraine "shall independently choose mechanisms for ensuring its security, including by means of joining international treaties and organizations" in order to clearly specify "the idea of European and Euro-Atlantic course enshrined in paragraph 5 of the constitutional preamble," he wrote.

Ukraine proclaimed NATO membership as a top priority of its foreign policy in 2017 and in February 2019 the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine’s parliament) approved corresponding constitutional amendments.

NATO held its summit in the Lithuanian capital city of Vilnius on July 11-12. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at the meeting that the bloc’s member states had taken three steps towards Ukraine, those being: a decision not to demand that Ukraine implement its NATO Membership Action Plan, adopting a multi-year program of military assistance to Kiev and approving the establishment of a NATO-Ukraine Council. However, the final statement read out by Stoltenberg said that Ukraine would receive an invitation to join NATO once allies reached a consensus and all the conditions were met. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky at a press conference expressed dissatisfaction with the decision, saying that the summit’s outcome was not ideal for Kiev as it had failed to get an invitation to join NATO.