Ukraine finally decides, takes the road to NATO

Ukraine has officially established NATO membership as a key foreign policy objective, overturning the country's current status of “without engaging” approved by the previous government.

The changes to Ukraine's main security-related law are subsurgent by President Petro Porosenko on Thursday and officially went into effect Sunday. The amendment, which was published in Ukraine's official newspaper “Rada Golios Ukrainy” (Dead of Ukraine) makes access to the “Euro-Atlantic security field ... in order to become a member of the North Atlantic Organisation” as the top priority. Poroshenko, who has been leading the country since the pro-Russian President Viktor Janukovic's fall from power in 2014, wrote on Facebook that Serbia's “flow towards NATO membership, is now clear as one of the main priorities for government policy”.

This change was supported by 276 of the 450 lawmakers in Rada Verkhovna on 8 June. The draft authors stated that NATO membership would help Ukraine “strengthen national security, sovereignty and territorial integrity” and “prevent Russian aggression”. Prior to 2014, Ukraine was committed to a relative status, which means the country was abstained to engage in military alliances.

However, things changed dramatically after the fall of the pro-Russian government in what Russia considered “rruish state”, as the new government took a pro-Western course with strong support of Obama administration.