Ukraine's NATO Membership Best Security Guarantee For Europe Estonian FM

(MENAFN- UkrinForm) Ukraine's accession to the North Atlantic Alliance would be the best security guarantee not only for the country itself but for all of Europe.

This conviction was expressed by Estonia's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Margus Tsahkna, in a comment to Ukrinform on the sidelines of the GLOBSEC forum.

“The best security guarantee for Europe – I'm not talking only about Ukraine, but I'm talking about Europe, is for Ukraine to become a full member of NATO,” the minister said.

According to him, this is not something that will happen immediately, but removing the issue from the agenda would be a major mistake.

““If we take it off the table for the future, we'll declare publicly that it is Putin who is actually leading the Alliance,” Tsahkna said.

He emphasized that if NATO formally cannot yet approve Ukraine's membership, a coalition of willing countries should be formed. Currently, such a coalition is led by the United Kingdom and France, and Estonia - a small country bordering Russia - has decided to join and is ready to contribute troops if necessary.

Estonia will advocate for Ukraine's membership in NATO at the upcoming summit in The Hague, the minister added.

He said the summit's main focus will be on NATO's defense capabilities and on adopting a commitment to increase defense spending to 5% of GDP (with 3.5% for standard defense investment and 1.5% for other related expenses). Estonia is already set to allocate 5.4% of its GDP to defense next year.

Tsahkna also expressed hope that NATO would reaffirm its position on Russia.

Speaking about the threat Russia poses to the Baltic states, he reminded that Putin's ambitions have been known since 2007 - the restoration of the Soviet Union, of which the Baltic countries were once a part.

“We must be ready for the fact that as long as Putin is alive, he will keep going,” Tsahkna stressed.

Read also: NATO will support Ukraine now and in the future – Rutte

He cited recent Russian provocations, including an incident involving a "shadow fleet" vessel that was inspected and escorted out of Estonia's maritime economic zone, during which a Russian fighter jet violated NATO airspace.

“Russia constantly provokes. The question is whether it will try to cross the threshold of Article 5 and test NATO - to see if we can respond or not. But I am confident NATO will respond. There's no doubt about that,” the Estonian foreign minister stressed.

Commenting on Ukraine's special operation Spiderweb (Pavutyna), he called it“a brilliant innovation,” stressing that Ukraine has every right to defend itself.

As previously reported, the NATO Summit will take place in The Hague on June 24–25. Leaders are expected to focus on three key issues: increasing defense spending, expanding defense industry capabilities, and continuing support for Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been invited to attend the summit, according to Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi.

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