Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine hosts press conference on results of July 8-9 NATO summit in Warsaw

Information Department of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Secretariat
12 July 2016, 17:11

The Ukraine-NATO civic league along with the permanent delegation of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and the Verkhovna Rada Committee on European Integration has discussed the prospects for Ukraine within the framework of the Warsaw NATO Summit that took place on July 8-9, 2016. The participants in the discussion were member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on European Integration Mustafa Nayem, Head of the Ukraine-NATO Civic League Serhii Dzherdzh, head of the NATO sector at the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Oleksii Henchev, former head of the Permanent Delegation of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ivan Zayets, representatives of non-government organizations, as well as people's deputies, and diplomats.

Oleksii Henchev said that the format of the events on the Ukraine-NATO issues within the framework of the Summit in Warsaw was unprecedented and would facilitate reformation of the defense security and civil sectors.

He added that Ukraine now has a chance to use huge technical and expert opportunities offered by the Alliance to achieve NATO standards, and effective reformation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine until 2020. Henchev noted that NATO remains committed to supporting Ukraine in counteraction to the aggressive actions of the Russian Federation. He called further steps of Ukraine on its way to NATO: Ukraine should ensure its conformity with the NATO standards; achieve its comprehensive compliance with the Alliance requirements; intensify interagency coordination of the Euro-Atlantic integration with the involvement of non-government organizations, Ukrainian Parliament and mass media organizations.

According to Serhii Dzherdzh, the Warsaw NATO Summit was more successful than Ukraine had expected. "The NATO has changed its position on Russia. They stated that almost 10,000 people had been killed in Donbas. NATO has decided to expand its presence in the Baltic countries, create missile defense systems in the east of Europe to neutralize nuclear threat of the Russian Federation — these are the summit's results," the speaker said.

According to Serhii Dzherdzh, NATO set the priorities in the implementation of the Minsk accords — withdrawal of the Russian troops, liberation of the Ukrainian borders, and only then holding of elections in Donbas.

Mustafa-Masi Nayem said that NATO does not envision any elections in Donbas despite the position of some EU countries.