Portugal will reinforce contribution to NATO support set for Ukraine – Observer
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The Minister of Foreign Affairs announced this Tuesday that Portugal will reinforce its contribution within the scope of the support that has been offered by NATO to Ukrainewithout needing values, which will be seen in Bucharest.
At the entrance to the North Atlantic Council meeting that will bring together Foreign Affairs ministers at the Palace of Parliament, in the Romanian capital, João Gomes Cravinho stressed that concrete support will be discussed at a meeting at the level of Defense ministers , but guaranteed that Portugal will reinforce its contribution within the scope of the “set of support that NATO is offering to Ukraine🇧🇷
Asked about concrete measures, Cravinho replied: “I will talk about it within the meeting”.
Gomes Cravinho began by noting that today’s meeting returns to Bucharest, where in 2008, in a meeting at the level of heads of state, “a very important summit was established where the open door policy🇧🇷
“That position, that posture, in relation to Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova remained, NATO’s open doors, and Portugal has always clearly supported that position, which is all the more important today when we have a scenario of Russia’s attack on Ukraine”, he added.
Cravinho was also asked about the opinion of some analysts that the declaration of the 2008 summit, which opened the door to the possible accession of Ukraine and Georgia to NATO and provoked a strong objection from Vladimir Putin, who was present at that meeting, would have been a mistake. Months after this controversial declaration, Russia invaded Georgia.
“What I think I experienced in 2008 is that several, including the administration at the time, [George W.] Bush, sought to promote the idea of Ukraine’s accession. Didn’t go that way, the idea of open doors remainedthat is, the possibility of Ukraine joining NATO in a future that did not have a defined time horizon”, he replied.
In the opinion of Gomes Cravinho, “it is very difficult to say that the invasion of Russia has to do with Ukraine’s non-adherence to NATO”.
“I think that there is no justification for the invasion of Ukraine, there was no threat to Russia’s security, and what was done in 2008 certainly does not constitute a threat to Russia”, he stressed.