BRUSSELS: NATO foreign ministers will seek to narrow divisions over Ukraine\u2019s membership bid at a meeting in Oslo this week, with allies at odds over calls to grant Kyiv a road map to accession at their July summit.
\nNATO has not acceded to Ukraine\u2019s request for fast-track membership as Western governments such as the US and Germany are wary of moves that they fear could take the alliance closer to entering an active war with Russia.
\nHowever, both Kyiv and some of its closest allies in eastern Europe have been pushing for NATO to at least take concrete steps to bring Ukraine closer to membership at the alliance\u2019s summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, on July 11-12.
\n\u201cIt would be very sad if in any way anyone could read the outcome of the Vilnius summit as a victory of Russia in precluding Ukraine to join NATO one day,\u201d Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte said on Friday.
\nLast week, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg made it clear that Ukraine will not be able to join the alliance as long as the war against Russia continues.
\n\u201cTo become a member in the midst of a war is not on the agenda,\u201d he said. \u201cThe issue is what happens when the war ends.\u201d
\nNATO agreed at its 2008 summit in Bucharest that Ukraine will join eventually.
\nHowever, leaders have since stopped short of steps such as giving Kyiv a membership action plan that would lay out a timetable for bringing the country closer to NATO.
\nOn the sidelines of their Oslo meeting on Wednesday and Thursday, foreign ministers are also expected to touch on the search for a new NATO chief, with Stoltenberg due to step down in September.
\nMeanwhile, President Tayyip Erdogan\u2019s election victory in Turkiye has brought fresh momentum to efforts to break a deadlock over the ratification of Sweden\u2019s NATO membership, held up by objections from Turkiye and Hungary.
\nAny progress in Oslo is unlikely, however, as Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu will not be there, Sweden said, although talks between him and Sweden\u2019s Tobias Billstrom will nevertheless take place \u201csoon.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BRUSSELS: NATO foreign ministers will seek to narrow divisions over Ukraine\u2019s membership bid at a meeting in Oslo this week, with allies at odds over calls to grant Kyiv a road map to accession at their July summit. NATO has not acceded to Ukraine\u2019s request for fast-track membership as Western governments such as the US […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":334321,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-334314","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n