Nine former-communist NATO members, plus Canada, urged the rest of the Atlantic alliance to overcome splits and open the door to former Soviet republics Ukraine and Georgia at its summit next month, Lithuania said on Thursday.
Lithuanian foreign ministry spokeswoman Violeta Gaizauskaite said that the nation was among the 10 signatories of a letter addressed to NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and copied to other member states.
She refused to give details of the content, but confirmed reports that it argued in favor of instigating a process that might lead to Georgia and Ukraine joining the alliance.
Gaizauskaite said the letter was also signed by Lithuania's fellow 2004 NATO ex-communist entrants Latvia, Estonia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Romania, plus Poland and the Czech Republic, which joined in 1999, and Canada, a founding member in 1949.
"We indeed got the letter on Wednesday," a member state diplomat at NATO's Brussels headquarters said on condition of anonymity.
Russia vehemently opposes the NATO ambitions of neighbors and Soviet-era vassals Ukraine and Georgia and has accused the Western alliance of trying to encircle it.
The Baltic News Service (BNS) agency reported that the letter said NATO's April 2 to April 4 summit in Romania must offer Ukraine and Georgia a "Membership Action Plan" (MAP).
Such accords have been used in the past to help other former communist bloc countries meet NATO standards and steer them into the Western military club, and both Kiev and Tbilisi have been lobbying hard for one.
BNS said the letter argued that giving Ukraine and Georgia a MAP would increase stability and security in Europe and stressed that failure to act at the Bucharest summit would dent NATO's "open door" policy.
Gaizauskaite confirmed the BNS report was accurate.
Poland's PAP news agency, meanwhile, reported that the letter warned that turning down Ukraine and Georgia would mean "losing a chance to anchor these countries" in the Western defense camp.
In the face of Russian opposition, the issue of ties between the 26-nation NATO and Ukraine and Georgia is expected to be one of the highest-profile subjects on the table at the summit.
Scheffer has himself said the summit should give a clear signal the alliance's door is open to both countries.
NATO works by consensus, so the unanimous approval of all members is required.
Despite support from NATO's powerhouse the US, plus Canada and most of the alliance's ex-communist members, there is reticence among many other states.
The doubters include Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Spain, as well as ex-communist Hungary, which joined NATO in 1999, officials in several of the countries and NATO diplomats said.
REVENGE: Trump said he had the support of the Syrian government for the strikes, which took place in response to an Islamic State attack on US soldiers last week The US launched large-scale airstrikes on more than 70 targets across Syria, the Pentagon said on Friday, fulfilling US President Donald Trump’s vow to strike back after the killing of two US soldiers. “This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance,” US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrote on social media. “Today, we hunted and we killed our enemies. Lots of them. And we will continue.” The US Central Command said that fighter jets, attack helicopters and artillery targeted ISIS infrastructure and weapon sites. “All terrorists who are evil enough to attack Americans are hereby warned
Seven wild Asiatic elephants were killed and a calf was injured when a high-speed passenger train collided with a herd crossing the tracks in India’s northeastern state of Assam early yesterday, local authorities said. The train driver spotted the herd of about 100 elephants and used the emergency brakes, but the train still hit some of the animals, Indian Railways spokesman Kapinjal Kishore Sharma told reporters. Five train coaches and the engine derailed following the impact, but there were no human casualties, Sharma said. Veterinarians carried out autopsies on the dead elephants, which were to be buried later in the day. The accident site
RUSHED: The US pushed for the October deal to be ready for a ceremony with Trump, but sometimes it takes time to create an agreement that can hold, a Thai official said Defense officials from Thailand and Cambodia are to meet tomorrow to discuss the possibility of resuming a ceasefire between the two countries, Thailand’s top diplomat said yesterday, as border fighting entered a third week. A ceasefire agreement in October was rushed to ensure it could be witnessed by US President Donald Trump and lacked sufficient details to ensure the deal to end the armed conflict would hold, Thai Minister of Foreign Affairs Sihasak Phuangketkeow said after an ASEAN foreign ministers’ meeting in Kuala Lumpur. The two countries agreed to hold talks using their General Border Committee, an established bilateral mechanism, with Thailand
‘POLITICAL LOYALTY’: The move breaks with decades of precedent among US administrations, which have tended to leave career ambassadors in their posts US President Donald Trump’s administration has ordered dozens of US ambassadors to step down, people familiar with the matter said, a precedent-breaking recall that would leave embassies abroad without US Senate-confirmed leadership. The envoys, career diplomats who were almost all named to their jobs under former US president Joe Biden, were told over the phone in the past few days they needed to depart in the next few weeks, the people said. They would not be fired, but finding new roles would be a challenge given that many are far along in their careers and opportunities for senior diplomats can
RSS