NATO chief says alliance to abolish Ukraine’s Membership Action Plan requirement

VILNIUS- NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday fellow NATO allies are expected to make an announcement to eliminate the Membership Action Plan (MAP) requirement for Ukraine, paving a smoother path for the country's future induction into the alliance.

“Ukraine has come a long way since we made the decision in 2008 that the next step would be a Membership Action Plan. Ukraine is much closer to NATO, so I think the time has come to reflect that in NATO decisions”, Stoltenberg said on the sidelines of the summit of NATO leaders in Vilnius.

Removing the MAP requirement will send a very “strong, unified and positive” message from NATO to Ukraine, Stoltenberg said.

Such a move would streamline Ukraine's accession process by trimming it from two stages to just one, he explained to the press.

A collective letter outlining this consensus is anticipated to be published by the alliance's members following the conclusion of the summit on Tuesday.