DISINFO: NATO declares that Ukraine will be supported as an anti-Russian country
SUMMARY
A report of NATO says that everything within the Alliance is as usual. There is a paragraph which declares that Ukraine will not become a member of NATO but it will be additionally trained and supported to stay an anti-Russian country.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about NATO threatening or encircling Russia. The Annual Report for 2019, to which Russian media refer, does not mention that Ukraine will be supported as an anti-Russian country nor that Ukraine will not become a member of Alliance. The report briefly describes NATO's cooperation with Ukraine throughout 2019 and reiterates that "Allies remained firm in their support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity." NATO’s essential and enduring purpose is to safeguard the freedom and security of all its members by political and military means. Ukraine is a strategic partner of NATO for many areas. Since the 1990s, relations between NATO and Ukraine have developed into one of NATO’s most influential partnerships. Relations were strengthened with the signing of the 1997 Charter on a Distinctive Partnership, which established the NATO-Ukraine Commission (NUC). The Declaration of 2009 to Complement the NATO-Ukraine Charter mandated the NUC, through Ukraine’s Annual National Programme, to underpin Ukraine’s efforts to take forward reforms aimed at implementing Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations. NATO's door remains open to any European country in a position to undertake the commitments and obligations of membership and contribute to security in the Euro-Atlantic area. Currently, four partner countries have declared their aspirations to NATO membership: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, North Macedonia and Ukraine, according to NATO’s statement. In February 2019, the Parliament of Ukraine amended the Constitution and cemented Ukraine's course to the EU and NATO.