"To our graduate students.

I believe that we must finish the topic "post-graduate student of NATO" until the end, since this status is not for one month and I do not want to go back to the explanations.

So, the main point of confusion is the complexity of the translation and the different meanings of this word in English and Russian. In the English "graduate student" has nothing to do with graduate students in universities.

Aspiration - aspiration, hope, desire.

That is, Ukraine has officially announced its intention to become a member of NATO and NATO officially recognizes this (why officially - lower).

So, Aspiring member - a member (country), applying officially for membership in NATO.

Why is it a status?.

Because on the NATO website there are two lists - NATO members (29 countries) and aspiring members (graduate students) - 4 countries.

Why is this status official?.

OK. Take, for example, Finland, Sweden, Kosovo, etc.. More than once you could hear statements by politicians of these countries that joining NATO is a good idea. Is this enough for NATO to include them in the list of aspiring members? Absolutely not.

To get on this list and get this status you need official and legal actions and decisions. Moreover, - on both sides.

From the side of NATO.

For example, Bosnia and Herzegovina nine years ago launched a program of "intensive dialogue".

For example, the 2008 Bucharest Summit of NATO decided that Georgia and Ukraine would necessarily become members of the Alliance.

On the part of applicants.

We need official applications (letters) from the first persons of the state. We need decisions of parliaments, we need Laws about the intention to join NATO, etc..

We need military and political cooperation - bases (as in Georgia), peacekeeping operations, exercises, instructors, etc..

And only NATO can decide when these movements towards each other can lead to the fact that this country appears on the list of aspiring members on the official website of NATO, "summed up Ponomar.