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UKRAINE NATO MEMBERSHIP 'NOT REALISTIC'

Realistically, NATO membership for Ukraine "is clearly out of the question" as this would raise the threat of a direct conflict with Russia, the foreign minister said in Washington, DC.
 

Speaking on the sidelines of a NATO summit, Péter Szijjártó said talks had been plagued by „enormous duplicity… They are trying to conjure an image of [Ukrainian] NATO accession while everyone knows this is out of the question and cannot be a matter of discussion.” Szijjártó said the situation had led to „grammatical summersaults” in the summit’s closing declaration, „because if NATO admitted Ukraine, we would live under the constant, open and extremely dangerous threat of war, as Ukraine’s NATO membership would foreshadow direct conflict between Russia and NATO.” While that is no one’s goal, „the mainstream is suggesting that the closest possible cooperation is necessary,” he said. Hungary was only willing to agree to the closing statement if it stated that any future NATO accession of Ukraine must be adopted unanimously, he said. „Once again, Ukraine will not be invited to NATO, so its membership is effectively off the table,” the minister added.