London, Feb 14 : UK armed forces minister James Heappey on Monday said that the United Kingdom would support Ukraine whether the Ukrainian government drops its bid to join NATO or not. “If Ukraine decides that it is going to offer that it won’t become a NATO member, we support that, that’s for the Ukrainians to decide.
Similarly, if Ukraine wanted to reserve its position and say that in the future it may want to join NATO, we would support that too because that’s what sovereignty is and that’s what we support,” Heappey told Sky News broadcaster. His comments came amid contradictory statements from the Ukrainian ambassador to the UK Vadym Prystaiko, who in a weekend interview with the BBC said that Kiev was willing to be “flexible” over its NATO membership to prevent war with Russia. Later on, the diplomat clarified his remark, arguing that Ukraine’s commitment to join the North Atlantic military alliance is ‘enshrined’ in the country’s constitution.
In the past few months, the West and Ukraine have accused Russia of a troop build-up near the Ukrainian border in alleged preparation for an invasion. Moscow has denied the accusations, repeatedly stating that it is not threatening anyone and at the same time expressing strong concerns over NATO’s military activity near the Russian borders, which it deems a threat to its national security. Moscow has also said Russia has the right to move troops within its national territory.
