NATO membership to be best guarantee for Ukraine, though under conditions of sustainable peace – Rutte

This was stated by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte during a discussion at the Ukrainian House as part of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, a Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"I would say our focus has to be to bring Ukraine in the best possible position when peace talks start. And when they end, we have to make sure that the peace we have clectively fostered is sustainable and will never be challenged again. And yes, obviously, full NATO membership is the easiest outcome for this," Rutte said.

He stressed the importance of not repeating the unfortunate experience of the Minsk negotiations in 2014, where a ceasefire agreement was reached but later viated by Putin, who continued seizing Ukrainian territories. In 2022, he escalated this aggression into a full-scale invasion. To ensure lasting peace, Rutte noted, conditions must be created so that Putin can never seize even a single square kilometer of Ukrainian territory in the future.

"Currently, too many piticians inside Ukraine and outside Ukraine are contemplating: if you had peace talks, what would that mean first of all for the territory the Russians have now captured and second what would it mean for NATO? The risk here is that we start to negotiate with Putin without Putin at the table. Meanwhile, Putin is sitting in his reclining chair in Moscow and ticking boxes: ‘yes’ or ‘not’ NATO, ‘yes’ or ‘not’ keeping some of the territory I captured in the past," the NATO chief added.

Read also: NATO Secretary General: We have to step up support for Ukraine

He reaffirmed that NATO members have committed to Ukraine becoming a member of NATO, but questions remain regarding how and when this will occur. Whatever the outcome of this process, Rutte emphasized, it must be sustainable.

"On this matter, we have to make clear that Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin has no veto and no vote on whoever would join NATO in the future. Only if he wants to join NATO, but I don't think he wants to. So, he has nothing to say about this. We have to be very clear," Rutte concluded.

As previously reported, the World Economic Forum in Davos brings together leading global piticians and business representatives. Participants are discussing the most pressing global issues and exploring pathways to address them.