“There are different views within the alliance on this issue,” Stoltenberg said, noting that “decision-making within NATO is by consensus.”
“I will be having phone conversations today about the way forward and how to manage Ukraine’s ambitions to join NATO,” he added.
He continued, “No one can know exactly what the final decision of the Vilnius summit will be on this issue.”
According to several diplomats from NATO member states, the United States and several other allies refuse to go beyond the Bucharest declaration, according to AFP.
The members of the alliance had confirmed at the Bucharest summit in 2008 that Ukraine and Georgia “would become members of NATO”, without specifying a timetable.
Ukraine’s membership in NATO allows it to use the collective defense clause of the alliance’s charter, which obliges all allies to defend another member in the event of an attack.
A diplomat said talks were underway “to lay the groundwork for a membership deal”.
For her part, a spokeswoman for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared that Paris “is ready to accept agreements with Ukraine aimed at giving it security guarantees to help it defend itself in the long term and prevent possible future attacks.
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