"There are increasing signs that everyone will be able to agree
on this," Pistorius told reporters in Brussels when asked about
reports that the U.S. is open to permitting Kyiv to forgo a
formal candidacy process required of some other nations in the
past.
"I would be open for this," said Pistorius, speaking on the
sidelines of a meeting with his NATO counterparts at the
alliance's headquarters.
The Washington Post reported on Thursday that the United States
is giving tentative backing to a plan that would remove barriers
to Ukraine's entry into NATO without setting a timeline for its
admission.
It quoted a senior U.S. official as saying Washington is
"comfortable" with a proposal from NATO Secretary-General Jens
Stoltenberg that would allow Kyiv to circumvent the alliance's
so-called Membership Action Plan (MAP).
Since 1999, most countries aiming to join NATO have participated
in this programme, which is designed to help candidates meet
certain political, economic and military criteria.
By shortening the process, the U.S. hopes to bridge divisions
among member nations over Kyiv's path to joining the
transatlantic military alliance, the Washington Post reported.
"This is a potential landing zone in this debate," it quoted one
official as saying.
However, the proposal would still require Ukraine to carry out
reforms and, contrary to the wishes of Eastern European allies,
it would not attach a time frame for Ukraine's accession,
according to the paper.
At its Bucharest summit in 2008, NATO agreed that Ukraine -
which like Russia was part of the Soviet Union until its 1991
demise - would eventually join the alliance.
But NATO leaders have so far stopped short of taking concrete
steps that would lay out a timetable for bringing Kyiv into the
alliance, something Eastern allies and Ukraine itself are
pushing for.
(Reporting by Sabine Siebold; Editing by Andrew Gray)
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