Anatoliy Hritsenko: Ukraine is ready for NATO more than its new members

The discussion of the prospects for Ukraine’s accession to the North Atlantic Alliance is held according to double standards, which shifts accents to the wrong direction and closes the foreseeable prospects for solving the issue. This was stated by Mr. Anatoliy Hritsenko, the Chairman of the Coordination Council of the Civil Position Party, speaking at the 12th Kyiv Security Forum, organized by the Arseniy Yatsenyuk Open Ukraine Foundation.

The politician noted that Ukraine's current state gives reasons to talk about the real membership in NATO right now.

“Ukraine, even in the current difficult socio-economic and military situation, is much more ready for NATO membership than Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania was at the appropriate time. In the military sphere, we have left behind many NATO countries. Especially those small countries in which the military potential is at the level of one military brigade, and their defence industry complex is not even comparable to the Ukrainian one," Mr. Anatoliy Hritsenko said.

According to the Civil Position leader, the problem of Ukrainian membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance is hidden in the sphere of law and values.

"As for Ukraine, we must talk about other areas and problems - protection of property rights in Ukraine, and this is primarily the work of the judicial system, the fight against corruption, and demonopolization. It is necessary for Ukraine to forget the word "oligarch". But NATO countries are more likely to repeat the abstract "homework for Ukraine". We know that some NATO countries do not want or are not yet ready to see Ukraine in the Alliance. When there's a will there's a way. We feel a double standards policy," Mr. Anatoliy Hritsenko believes.

Mr. Hritsenko noted that Ukraine's membership in NATO is connected with the positioning of the West in assessing Russian aggression, which is a matter of priority values.

"Do our Western partners really have a genuine, not declared, willingness to help us? I would be honest, I'm not sure. Russia, one of the five countries responsible for peace in the world, has committed a criminal offence. It should be punished. But the foreign minister of one beautiful country invites a criminal to the wedding and looks happy about that. This is how it was perceived by others. This is a valuable issue. When the West solves the issue of values, there will be an effective search for "paths for Ukraine". In turn, Ukraine must demonstrate its strength, sincerity and readiness to search solutions. Then the partners will support us ", Mr. Anatoliy Hritsenko concluded.

FOR REFERENCE:
The annual international event Kyiv Security Forum was launched by the Arseniy Yatsenyuk Open Ukraine Foundation in 2007. Since then, the Forum has become a platform for high-level international discussions on current issues of national security, security issues of the Black Sea region, Europe and the world.