Ukraine has right to choose own path - Stoltenberg

This was stated by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at a joint press conference in Paris with French Foreign and Defense Ministers, Jean-Yves Le Drian and Florence Parley on Friday, December 10, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"This is also about respecting the sovereignty of a sovereign independent nation in Europe. It has been stated again and again, starting back in the Helsinki Final Act in 1975 and any time since then that every nation in Europe has the right to choose its own path, and that includes Ukraine. So we stand by our decisions and nothing has changed in NATO’s approach to Ukraine's membership. And it is for Ukraine to decide its own path, whether it wants to aspire for membership or not," Stoltenberg said.

According to Stoltenberg, Ukraine will join 30 NATO members when it is ready to join the Alliance.

"No one else. This is about really respecting the right of every independent nation to choose its own path. What we see now is that Russia is trying to re-establish spheres of influence where they try to control their neighbors,” the secretary general added.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, ahead of the video call of the U.S. and Russian presidents, the Russian side said they considered as a "red line" Ukraine's accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance, and demanded legal guarantees, in written form, that this would never happen.

After the two leaders spoke, the White House reaffirmed that President Joe Biden did not accept any such conditions or "red lines" stated by Russia.

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