NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that Russia is not entitled to prevent a sovereign country from joining NATO.

“Georgia wants to become a member of NATO and that’s not for Russia to stop. Whether Georgia becomes a member of NATO or not is for Georgia and NATO Allies to decide, and only them. Because anything else would be to infringe on the sovereign rights of sovereign independent countries. And then, of course, you can have different arguments, but it’s not for Russia to decide what Georgia is to do. It’s for Georgia and NATO Allies.

Therefore, what they have done in Abkhazia, in South Ossetia, violating their territorial integrity, the sovereignty of Georgia, an independent country, is unacceptable. The same with the Ukraine, of course, illegal annexation of Crimea, destabilizing Donbas, eastern Ukraine. It’s violating absolute fundamental principles in the way we should create a peaceful, stable world”, - said Jens Stoltenberg.