whether ukraine will become a member of nato or not. that s for ukraine to decide. and the allies to decide when ukraine is ready and meet the nato standards. so, again, russia tries to control neighbors. and that s the main problem in this conflict, that russia doesn t respect the integrity of sovereign independent nation. so you re saying to be clear that ukraine either association or membership with nato is still a possibility? so we have decided and stated in nato that ukraine will become a member of nato, but ukraine will become a member of nato when allies agree that ukraine meet nato standards. that s for the allies to decide, not for russia to decide. and i myself, i m coming from a small country, norway, bordering nato. i m very glad that our nato allies never gave russia that
will you regard it as a personalfailure if, by the time you leave your post, next year, that ukraine and georgia have not been given a membership action plan status? will that be a failure, as far as you re concerned? that s not the way i work. that s not the way nato works. for us, it is the question of whether ukraine meets the nato standards, and then we make the. we ll make the decision. so this is not a specific date. i have proven in my tenure as secretary general that nato s door is open. 0ver my time as.during my time as secretary general, we have enlarged, with two new member states, montenegro and north macedonia. so, actually, it proves that nato s door remains open, but it is a decision by 30 allies and the aspirant country to decide when a country