Former special representative of the US State Department Kurt Volker believes that, despite the presence of occupied territories in their composition, Ukraine and Georgia can become NATO members. He stated this in an interview with European Pravda..

According to Volker, it is quite possible to use the formula of the same name proposed by former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

The “Rasmussen formula” provides for an agreement between NATO and the candidate country that they do not return the occupied territories by force: Georgia and NATO declare that neither the first nor the second support the military operation for the return of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, but support their peaceful reintegration. to Georgia.

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“Along with this comes an agreement on Georgia’s accession to NATO, provided that Article 5 applies only to government-controlled territory, and applies to Abkhazia and South Ossetia only after they are peacefully reintegrated into Georgia. That is, there is a formula for Georgia,” Volker explained..

At the same time, according to him, this formula is no longer suitable for Ukraine, since Russia, with its full-scale attack, has destroyed such an opportunity..

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“Therefore, I believe that Ukraine must fight to return all its lands. It is very dangerous to leave any part of Ukraine under Russian occupation. This is what I hear from my Ukrainian friends and colleagues. That is, Ukraine will continue to fight. But if peace is achieved at some point, then the Rasmussen formula regarding the operation of Article 5 is applicable here too,” he said..

President Zelensky said that only the loss of everything seized by Russia and the responsibility for aggression will be a fuse against new wars.

As reported, the current NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg believes that in the war between Russia and Ukraine, the Alliance has two tasks: to support Ukraine and prevent a direct clash between NATO and Russia, to prevent the spread of war.

Earlier, the NATO Secretary General warned that the West should be ready to support Ukraine for a long time and advised to stop complaining..