When questioned about Russian reservations to Ukraine’s entrance into the military alliance, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin told a briefing during a visit to Kyiv on Tuesday that no third nation has a veto over Ukraine’s aspirations to join NATO.
According to Austin, “no third country has a veto over NATO‘s membership decisions. Ukraine, as you heard me say earlier, has a right to decide its own future foreign policy, and we expect that they will be able to do that without any outside interference.”
Austin also said that Russia sparked the crisis in eastern Ukraine and was a barrier to a peaceful conclusion.
