The Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Jens Stoltenberg, emphasized the importance of reforms in Ukraine in the context of its possible membership of the country in the Alliance.
He said this at a NATO headquarters during a press conference on the eve of the meeting of Foreign Ministers of Allies, which will be held on December 5 - 6 in Brussels, UNIAN reports.
"This is for Ukraine to decide whether the country would aspire to join NATO or to ask NATO membership. Of course, it's up to Ukrainians to decide this - either through a referendum or otherwise, it's internal national Ukrainian decision," he said.
At the same time, Stoltenberg stressed that the decision on the future enlargement of NATO will be taken by 28 allies.
He recalled that the Alliance had recently expanded at the expense of admitting Montenegro and added that NATO's doors are open. Stoltenberg believes that membership in NATO will make Ukraine strong. In this regard, the Secretary General assured that the Alliance will continue to support the reforms in Ukraine.
