UK ready to support Ukraine's simplified accession to NATO

James Cleverly, the UK Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, has stated that London will be "very supportive" if Ukraine is able to undergo a simplified NATO accession procedure.

Source: Cleverly at the Ukraine Recovering Conference in London, as European Pravda reports, referring to The Guardian 

Details: Cleverly assumed that the UK will support the suggestion that Ukraine will not have to complete the NATO Membership Action Plan (MAP) to become a member of the alliance.

The process of the Membership Action Plan requires the candidate states to receive assessment and advice as they take steps aimed at attaining the NATO criteria in defence and other sectors.

If Ukraine skips this stage, it will be in the same category as Finland, the new NATO member. As opposed to this, Northern Macedonia had been fulfilling its Membership Action Plan for 20 years before becoming a member in 2020.

"We have seen Ukraine evolve, and evolve incredibly quickly. Jens Stoltenberg at the Nato informal foreign ministers (summit) said that actually, many of the requirements of membership action plan are actually being delivered," Cleverly revealed.

"The reform of their armed forces is happening whilst engaged in conflict.  I think the UK’s position would be very, very supportive if we moved on from the membership action plan recognising that the offer to both Sweden and Finland didn’t require that and Ukrainians have demonstrated their commitment to reform the military for requirement of Nato membership through their actions on the battlefield," Cleverly noted.

He believes that all NATO allies recognise this.

Background: According to the sources of the Axios media outlet, US President Joe Biden allegedly supports NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg's proposal that Ukraine does not need to implement the Membership Action Plan (MAP) to join the Alliance.

Earlier, Axios reported with reference to its sources that Biden later admitted publicly that the Ukrainian army corresponds to the NATO standards, yet expressed his doubt concerning whether the Ukrainian security system in general corresponds to the standards and whether it is corrupt or not.

The Politico media outlet also stated that more and more NATO member states support Ukraine’s simplified accession to NATO with no MAP, and this decision may be approved at the NATO summit in Vilnius.

As is known, at the July NATO summit in Vilnius, Ukraine is also seeking to achieve clear wording regarding the prospect of membership in the North Atlantic Alliance, while criticising the decision of the Bucharest summit, which is "as far removed from reality as possible".

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