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Former Italian PM says Russia’s wish not to have enemies at its doorstep understandable

Giuseppe Conte also believes that the EU has never intended to promote dialogue on settling the conflict

MADRID, April 21. /TASS/. Former Italian Prime Minister, the leader of the Five Star Movement Giuseppe Conte, believes that Russia’s desire not to have any enemies close to its borders is quite reasonable.

"At first, we were inclined toward sending military aid to Ukraine but with the obligation that it will be followed by talks, not in order to reject the proposal that emerged in Istanbul [during the 2022 talks]," he noted in an interview with El Pais. "An agreement, reached during talks, is not a capitulation," Conte added. "Remarks by Ukrainian negotiators are clear: Russia was interested in guarantees that Ukraine won’t join NATO," he clarified. "I think that any superpower, beginning with the US, does not like having enemies at the gate, and this is understandable," Conte added.

"And today they keep talking about Ukraine in NATO. This is being argued by those who completely do not want to end this war," the politician emphasized. Conte also believes that the EU has never intended to promote dialogue on settling the conflict. "Our rulers do not want to admit that they were mistaken in their victory forecasts," he added.

At the April 2008 Bucharest summit, the alliance approved a political statement that Ukraine and Georgia would become NATO members with time, but refused to present the Membership Action Plan (MAP) to either country, given that this is a first step in the legal procedure on joining the organization.

Any specifics were absent from NATO’s summit in Vilnius in July 2023 as well, when the alliance said that "Ukraine’s future is in NATO" without providing any concrete timeframe. At the Washington summit in 2024, the alliance said that Ukraine is "on an irreversible path to NATO." This expression has been repeatedly reiterated for months by then NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and his successor Mark Rutte.

After US President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January 2025, and the new administration clarified the US’ new policy course, Rutte announced that NATO had never made any specific promises about Ukraine’s accession to the alliance.

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