Ukraine needs to do its “homework” and carry out the necessary reforms to meet the criteria for NATO membership. This was stated in and interview with fifth President and leader of the “European Solidarity” party Petro Poroshenko with French newspaper “Le Figaro.”
“Prior to my presidency, support for accession to the EU was 30% and 16% for NATO. By the end of my term, support increased to 71% for EU membership and 59% for NATO,” Petro Poroshenko reminded.
“We must carry out our job of reforming the country and meeting the criteria for EU and NATO membership, continuing with unprecedented reforms launched during my term in office. We need to get a NATO Membership Action Plan quickly,” Poroshenko said.
“No one knows where Putin will appear next. Seven years ago, an extreme wave of Russian aggression began in Ukraine. In 2008, it was Georgia, then in Nagorno-Karabakh and before that in Transnistria, Syria, and Abkhazia. Russia is the cause of many ongoing military conflicts. For seven years, there has been no change in their policy,” the fifth President stated.
“What we saw at the end of April was not training. It was a significant increase in Russia’s military presence on our eastern border and instrument of pressure on Ukraine and our partners- the United States and the European Union. Putin never withdrew his troops, he only pretended to retreat by withdrawing by a few kilometres. When Ukraine opposes Russia, it is not just about its territorial integrity, it is about a struggle for freedom, and for security and democracy in Europe,” Poroshenko said.
“The Ukrainian people have chosen their future in a United Europe and with NATO, so this aggression is absolutely unacceptable for them. Putin recognises no boundaries.
That is why he launched an aggression in 2014, which lead to the annexation of Crimea. However, neither Crimea nor Donbas will satisfy him. He wants the whole of Ukraine because his considers himself Tsar and cannot imagine Russian being smaller than what it was in the former Russian Empire,” Petro Poroshenko emphasised.