NATO will respect and recognize Ukraine's possible decision to cancel its non-aligned status and join this military-political alliance, reports GHN based on Ukrinform.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said this on Friday, a Ukrinform correspondent in Brussels reported.
"We fully respect Ukraine's decisions as regards Ukraine's security policy and alliance affiliation... Ukraine will become a member of NATO provided, of course, that Ukraine so wishes and provided that Ukraine fulfills the necessary criteria," he said, recalling the decision taken at the NATO summit in Bucharest in 2008.
As reported, Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk said that the Ukrainian government had submitted for consideration by parliament a draft law cancelling the neutral status of the Ukrainian state and resuming Ukraine's course towards NATO membership.