NATO standards are not main criteria for accession to NATO – Ukraine's Defence Minister

Ukraine plans to implement nearly 200 NATO standards by the end of 2023, in addition to the almost 300 that are already in place, but the standards will not be a decisive factor for Ukraine’s accession to NATO.

Source: Oleksii Reznikov, Minister of Defence of Ukraine, in an interview for Ukrinform

Quote: "287 NATO standards have been implemented within the security and defence forces of Ukraine. This is almost a quarter of the total number, of which 174 [have been  implemented] within the framework of the Ukraine-NATO Partnership Goals (priority standards of the Alliance), and 113 are standards which Ukraine has implemented on its own initiative. According to this indicator, Ukraine ranks first among NATO partner countries and even exceeds the indicators of some NATO member states.

By the end of 2023, about 200 more standards were accepted for execution and implementation."

Details: Reznikov remarked that there are more than 1,200 NATO standards in total but not all of them have to be implemented by a country to be accepted into the Alliance.

"When the political decision concerning the invitation and accession of Ukraine to NATO is made, it will not depend on the quantity of the NATO standards implemented by Ukraine," he explained.

He stated that he has asked the defence ministers of the countries that have become NATO members since 1991 or 1997: "How many NATO standards have you implemented in percentage or quantitative terms?"

"The response was, on average, about 30%. About 40% of the necessary regulations have been adopted in these countries. Some countries have 2% of standards in place, others 8%. So it is not mandatory to have 100% of them in place to be accepted into the Alliance!" Reznikov stressed.

He added that three components will be decisive for Ukraine’s accession to NATO: civil and democratic control over the Armed Forces, transparent procedures for the supply of the Armed Forces and joint planning of operations.

"That’s it, three criteria. If the country meets these criteria, it can become a NATO member state," Reznikov said.

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