"Ukraine will not amend the Constitution on NATO and the EU", - the head of the Verkhovna Rada

Head of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk said that Ukraine does not plan to amend the Constitution on NATO and the EU. He said this in an interview,Ukrainian Pravda".

“It seems to me that few people did as much as I did in parliament for Ukraine's accession to the EU and NATO. For me, these are very important topics. But today we are asking NATO to close the sky, and they say they can't. We remind about the open door policy, and in response - the open door policy, but Ukraine will not become a NATO member during this period. Do it - no. Pass it on - no, Stefanchuk said.

When asked by a journalist that if Ukraine receives clear security guarantees from a number of states on our security, then it is already possible to amend the Constitution on the NATO issue, Stefanchuk replied that there is no point in this.

"Why? If we receive guarantees, we will use these guarantees. Whatever what is written in the Constitution regarding NATO and the EU – these are our perspective visions for the future. We need guarantees now, not in the future. We have already signed the Budapest Memorandum for the Future, which has not been tested,” - said the head of the Verkhovna Rada and stressed that "we will not change the Constitution."

«Amending the Constitution is not and will never be an end in itself. This is a toolkit. No one has ever made good out of it. Well, they made some changes, others. They are effective only when they have an effect. We can write anything in the Constitution 150 times, but if there is no effect from it, then these are declarative norms,” - added the politician.

Recall that in December 2014 the Verkhovna Rada renounced the non-bloc status of the state. In February 2019, the Parliament of Ukraine adopted amendments to the constitution, fixing the course for the country's accession to the EU and NATO. The draft law states that the powers of the parliament include determining the foundations of domestic and foreign policy, implementing the state's strategic course for acquiring full membership of Ukraine in the EU and NATO. At the same time, the president is declared the guarantor of the implementation of this strategic course.

Later NATO has recognized Ukraine as an Enhanced Opportunities Partner. Ukraine has become the sixth NATO Enhanced Opportunities Partner. This status will help strengthen the interoperability of its troops with the forces of the Alliance, but does not mean progress towards NATO membership.

Non-bloc status of Ukraine is one of the main demands of Russia in negotiations with Ukraine. At the same time, Russia will not oppose Ukraine's accession to the European Union.

March 15 Vladimir Zelensky said that the time has come for Ukraine to recognize that it will not become a member of NATO. He also said that Ukraine requires security guarantees in exchange for a non-bloc status.

Diplomat Alexander Chaly, who heads the legal team in the Ukrainian delegation in negotiations with the Russian Federation, claimedthat Ukraine is ready to fix a non-bloc status without joining military-political unions.

He noted that the key requirement of the Ukrainian delegation in the negotiations with the Russian Federation regarding this future treaty is "clear legally binding security guarantees for Ukraine, which in their content and form should be similar to Article 5 of NATO."

“If we manage to consolidate these key provisions, and for us this is the most fundamental requirement, then Ukraine will be in a position to actually fix its current status of a non-bloc and non-nuclear state in the form of permanent neutrality, which has historically already been recorded in our declaration of sovereignty, which was adopted July 16, 1990 In accordance with this, such guarantees, which are in fact equal to Article 5 of NATO, we, as the Constitution of Ukraine requires today, will not deploy foreign military bases on our territory, and we will not deploy military contingents on our territory, and we will not enter into military-political alliances. Conducting military exercises on our territory will take place with the consent of the guarantor countries" - Chaly said.

We previously reported that The West is switching to the supply of NATO-standard weapons to Ukraine.