New Latvian president: obstacle to Ukraine's NATO membership is not Hungary

Edgars Rinkevičs, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and President-elect of Latvia, believes that the main obstacle on Ukraine's path to NATO is not Hungary: it is the uncertainty over the position of a wider range of countries.

Source: Rinkevičs in an interview with European Pravda

Details: Rinkevičs noted that the main obstacle to Ukraine's accession to the North Atlantic Alliance is the internal debate within NATO, not Ukraine itself or Russia's unspoken "veto".

Quote: "The reason is that now, in many capitals of NATO member states, there is not a clear enough understanding of what to do in a situation where a state at war joins the Alliance, and what this means in the context of Article 5. Let me be clear: this is the main question. And this is precisely the question many member states cannot give an answer to. And until they have this answer for themselves, they will not be able to answer at the same table and with other NATO members."

More details: In Rinkevičs’ view, if this position were formed, even Budapest’s opinion should not be an obstacle.

"I believe that when it comes to the final decision-making process, all the allies without exception will agree. But for now, this key issue is an obstacle. There is a country at war. There is NATO Article 5. And now not just one or two states, but many states are trying to understand what this means for the Alliance. In many capitals, there is still no good answer to this question, and we have to understand it," he added.

Rinkevičs noted that Latvia sees Ukraine's future in NATO and for its part will do everything possible to make it happen.

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