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NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg: "Our position on Ukraine remains unchanged"
Photo: JOHN THYS / AFP
Russia has asked NATO to formally put aside the prospects of Ukraine and Georgia joining the Western military alliance.
The official withdrawal of a corresponding decision at a NATO summit in 2008 is "in the fundamental interest of European security," said the Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday.
Moscow also called for an end to NATO military exercises near the Russian border.
In the declaration of the NATO states at the Bucharest summit in April 2008, it is said that the alliance welcomed "the efforts of Ukraine and Georgia to join NATO." And: "We have agreed today that these countries will join NATO." Accession of both countries to NATO is currently not an option in the short or medium term. Ukraine in particular cooperates closely with the West, especially with the USA.
As expected, NATO rejected the Russian demand on Friday.
"The position with regard to our relations with Ukraine remains unchanged," said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Friday in Brussels.
Each nation has the right to choose its own path - including the type of security arrangements it wants to make.
"NATO's relationship with Ukraine will be decided by NATO's 30 allies and Ukraine, no one else."
Ukraine: Large parts of the Sea of Azov closed
Meanwhile, Ukraine announced that Russia had blocked large parts of the Sea of Azov. Accordingly, almost 70 percent of the water around the annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea was closed to shipping for military exercises. The Russian fleet is apparently planning target practice in front of the Ukrainian ports of Mariupol, Berdyansk and Henichesk, Kiev naval forces announced on Friday. A confirmation from the Russian side was not available for the time being.
The previous day, the Russian border guards accused a ship of the Ukrainian Navy of approaching the Kerch Strait without permission.
The leadership in Moscow spoke of a dangerous provocation.
Kiev rejected the charge.
The ship "Donbass" did not leave its own territorial waters.
The Sea of Azov is a common inland sea between Russia and Ukraine and is only connected to the greater Black Sea by the Kerch Strait.
In November 2018, three Ukrainian military ships were hijacked by the Russian border guards while attempting to cross this strait.
The 24 sailors were only released after months of negotiations.
Scholz also expresses himself
During his inaugural visit to Brussels, Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) said that the German government was "looking with concern at the many troops on the border with Ukraine."
There should be "no threat scenarios" in Europe.
The SPD politician made an evasive statement on the question of whether the commissioning of the Baltic Sea pipeline Nord Stream 2 was in question as a means of exerting pressure against Russia.
He stressed that the Ampel-Coalition wanted to do everything to "prevent that".
According to NATO information, Russia has currently drawn between 75,000 and 100,000 soldiers on the border with Ukraine.
The developments bring back memories of 2014. At that time, Russia had annexed the Crimean peninsula after the coup in Ukraine and began supporting separatists in eastern Ukraine, which is still ongoing.
sol / dpa / AFP / Reuters