Czech President Petr Pavel believes that Ukraine’s accession to NATO should not depend on whether it fully controls all of its territory, and recalls a precedent in history, Radiosvoboda reports.
Petr Pavel said in an interview with Novinky that he expects that in the coming years Ukraine will be able to reach a peace agreement with Russia, an agreement that could mean that Moscow occupies part of its territory for a long time, but without the approval of democratic states to change borders.
I believe that the full restoration of control over the entire territory is not a necessary precondition. If there is a demarcation, even an administrative border, we can accept this administrative border as a temporary one and admit Ukraine to NATO on the territory it will control at that time, – he said.
The Czech president sees a precedent for such a step in history. Petr Pavel reminded of Germany, which was admitted to NATO in 1955, despite the fact that part of the country was occupied by the Soviet Union.
Therefore, I think there is both a technical and a legal solution to allow Ukraine to join NATO without bringing NATO into conflict with Russia, – he said.
Ukraine has made it clear that its goal is to become a NATO member. Kyiv and some of its NATO allies, especially in Eastern Europe, are pushing for an invitation to join, even though they recognize that Ukraine cannot join NATO while it is at war.
