Russia has often expressed that they have some kind of right to try to deny countries to join NATO, which is unacceptable for the Alliance. Such a statement made today the Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg.

“NATO’s door remains open. And we have demonstrated that just over the last few years, by getting new members, Montenegro, and most recently, North Macedonia. So for me that demonstrates clearly that our door is open, not only as a kind of theoretical option but as actually as something in real life, that happens in NATO, when the Allies agree. And we have a country which is aspiring for a NATO membership, that meets the NATO standards.

I have recently met with the Georgian Prime Minister, and I conveyed the same message to him. NATO supports the efforts by Georgia to join NATO, and we support Georgia in different ways, including by supporting reforms, strengthening democratic institutions and we will continue to do so.

I cannot speak on behalf of United States, but I look forward to having the Secretary Blinken here at the NATO Foreign Ministerial meeting and one of the things we’ll discuss is also, Russia, and I say that because Russia has often expressed that they have some kind of right to try to deny countries to join NATO. We saw that most recently actually, when it comes to Bosnia and Herzegovina

And it’s not for any nation outside NATO and the aspirant country, to decide whether a country becomes a member of NATO, or not, it’s a sovereign right of every nation, including Georgia of course, or Ukraine, or Bosnia and Herzegovina,  to choose their own path. And then it’s for those countries that are applying for membership and the NATO allies and only them, and no one else, no one from the outside, to interfere in that democratic process”, - said Jens Stoltenberg.