Rutte says no promises to Ukraine on NATO membership

NATO has never promised Ukraine that it would be admitted to the bloc after peace talks with Russia. This was stated by the Secretary General of the organization Mark Rutte on February 13.

"There has never been an agreement that when peace talks begin, they will end <...> precisely with Ukraine's accession to the alliance," he said at a press conference following a meeting of the bloc's defense ministers in Brussels.

Rutte added that potential security guarantees for Kiev could take a variety of forms other than NATO membership.

Sense of contact: Putin and Trump agree on diplomatic solution to Ukraine crisis

In an hour and a half, they also discussed prisoner exchanges, the situation in the Middle East and the Iran nuclear deal

Earlier, on February 12, US President Donald Trump said that the idea of Kiev joining the North Atlantic Alliance is inappropriate. Also Trump noted that in the "not too distant future" it will be possible to achieve a ceasefire in Ukraine.

At the same time, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said at a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG) in Brussels that Washington does not consider Kiev's accession to NATO a realistic outcome of the peace process. The Financial Times reported that his words caused disappointment and frustration in Kiev.

In January, Alexander Konkov, an associate professor at the political science department of the Financial University under the Russian government, told Izvestiya that NATO has no special interest in Ukraine 's membership in the alliance. At the same time, most countries have a latent interest in resisting the inclusion of this country in NATO in every possible way, because otherwise it will lead to difficulties.