Ukrainian President submits to Parliament draft law on NATO membership

(Baonghean.vn) - On Thursday, December 18, Ukrainian President Petro Oleksiyovych Poroshenko submitted to the National Assembly a draft law allowing Kiev to join the NATO alliance to ensure national security and counter threats from Russia.

President Poroshenko at the Warsaw Parliament, Poland on December 17. Photo: AFP/Janek Skarzynski

President Poroshenko's decision invalidated the non-aligned status that the country entered in 2010. Non-aligned status is a term used by countries like Switzerland, meaning that member states refuse to join any military alliances or engage in any armed conflicts.

Since the start of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, the Kiev government and NATO have repeatedly accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of providing military support to the separatists. President Poroshenko said that it was Russia's "aggression" that forced him to "turn" toward the West and submit the draft law to the parliament. On his website, President Poroshenko explained that "Ukraine's non-aligned status has proven that this approach is completely ineffective in ensuring national security."

After becoming president in February 2014, Mr. Poroshenko made Ukraine's NATO membership his number one foreign policy priority, a policy that was in stark contrast to his predecessor, Victor Yanukovich, who resigned under pressure from protests.

However, even if the Ukrainian parliament passes a bill allowing the Kiev government to join NATO, it is not certain that Ukraine will be allowed to join the military alliance. During the recent visit of French President Francois Hollande on December 6, Mr. Hollande assured his counterpart Putin that Paris would never agree to allow Ukraine to join NATO when both leaders mentioned the conflicts in eastern Ukraine.

Chu Thanh

According to LeMonde December 18