(16 Oct 2024)
RESTRICTIONS SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Brussels, Belgium – 16 October 2024
1. Swedish Prime Minister, Ulf Kristersson, and NATO Secretary-General, Mark Rutte, arriving for press conference
2. Mid of journalists
3. Wide of Kristersson and Rutte during press conference
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Rutte, NATO Secretary-General:
“As you know, I visited Kyiv two weeks ago and I spoke with (Ukrainian President, Volodymyr) Zelenskyy also in London last week and we are in regular contact and I am very much aware of all the elements of the victory plan. As you also know, NATO in Washington decided to make the path towards NATO membership for Ukraine an irreversible path. That’s clearly stated. And we are in close contact with allies with Ukraine to see how we can take next steps, how to do that in a way which is also successful, which is fruitful, etc. Obviously, these are talks, I cannot give you all the insights about. That’s impossible in a press conference like this. But the victory plan, of course, we very much are debating with them and using every opportunity to take that one step by step further.”
5. Wide of press conference
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Rutte, NATO Secretary-General:
“But the victory plan is not only about an invitation to become a member of NATO. The victory plan has more elements, as today President Zelenskyy has explained to his parliament. And obviously this is always part of a debate which is ongoing. What I have made clear in Kyiv is that ultimately NATO membership is a sovereign right to ask for, from every nation which is somehow part of our geography. And the only ones deciding on it are the 32 members already in NATO and the one country who wants to become a part of NATO. And therefore, let there be no doubt that (Russian President, Vladimir) Putin or Russia have no vote on this, have no veto on this. This is really a discussion which is ongoing between us and Ukraine.”
7. Wide of press conference
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Ulf Kristersson, Swedish Prime Minister:
“Tomorrow, I suppose we will have a kind of a normal update on how things are developing. President Zelenskyy is always also very frank in his descriptions on what they need, what other countries can kind of help with. And normally we receive a very frank view on what is happening and how all the countries that are helping Ukraine, how we can increase our help and reach common goals.”
9. Press conference views
STORYLINE:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday his plan to win his country’s fight against Russia’s invasion could bring peace next year, but it contains a step that some crucial Western allies have so far refused to countenance: inviting Ukraine to join NATO before the war ends.
Zelenskyy has recently been trying to win approval for the plan from Western partners, who so far have stopped short of publicly voicing their support for it.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte was non-committal on the membership request, and underlined that the most important thing now is to put Ukraine in a position to negotiate a better hand should any peace talks happen.
“We are in close contact with allies, with Ukraine, to see how we can take next steps,” Rutte told reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels, but he declined to provide details, saying: “I cannot give you all the insights about that.”
The first point in Zelenskyy’s five-point plan that was presented in a speech to the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, is perhaps the most ambitious and the most likely to make Western allies balk: letting Ukraine into NATO while the fighting continues.
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