MOSCOW, June 26. /TASS/. Russia firm on needing formal security guarantees from NATO that Ukraine won't be brought into the alliance; the EU gets serious about moving Ukraine's accession process along; and with the ceasefire in place, Iran may be ready to resume talks on a nuclear deal with US. These stories topped Thursday's newspaper headlines across Russia.
Ukraine’s off-bloc status would need to be formally guaranteed in writing as part of any resolution to the ongoing crisis, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin told Izvestia. According to him, NATO absorbing the country and using it as a springboard for inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia would be unacceptable. Ukraine’s potential membership was not mentioned in the declaration that came out of the alliance’s summit held in The Hague on June 24-25.
However, the leadership of both the EU and the North Atlantic Alliance is reluctant to stop supporting Ukraine. On the first day of the summit, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced plans to strengthen cooperation as part of a joint military innovations program with Kiev, while NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte pledged $35 billion in additional military aid to Ukraine. The EU’s upcoming two-day summit that kicks off in Brussels later on Thursday will discuss an 18th package of anti-Russian sanctions.
