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Slovak president says Kiev will not get 'free pass' into NATO at Washington summit

"Any country, which has the right to determine its future and apply for joining any organization, should understand that the decision on its admission will depend on this organization’s members," Peter Pellegrini stressed

Slovak President Peter Pellegrini AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein

Slovak President Peter Pellegrini

© AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein

BRATISLAVA, July 9. /TASS/. Ukraine should not count on being given a "free pass" into the North Atlantic Alliance at the NATO summit in Washington on July 9 through 11, Slovak President Peter Pellegrini said.

"We will insist that the paragraph on this issue mention that admission to NATO be contingent on certain terms and that the countries of the alliance consent to this. This document will not be a ‘free pass’ [into NATO]," the SME news portal quoted him as saying upon his arrival in the US capital city.

"Any country, which has the right to determine its future and apply for joining any organization, should understand that the decision on its admission will depend on this organization’s members," he stressed.

The NATO summit begins in Washington on Tuesday. This year, the organization marks its 75th anniversary. The summit is expected to yield the first document on the expanded cooperation of Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, and Japan in the alliance.

US National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby said earlier that Ukraine’s potential accession to NATO would require a lot of work and it would take time to reach a consensus on this matter within the alliance. Nevertheless, in his words, the United States will keep on signaling to Kiev that it could be admitted to NATO.

Participants in the NATO summit in Brussels in June 2021 said in a final communique that Ukraine and Georgia can count on being admitted to the alliance in the future. Russia vehemently rejects the idea of NATO’s further eastward expansion. However, according to Thomas Wright, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Strategic Planning with the National Security Council, the issue of Ukraine’s membership in NATO may be raised only in several years.

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