Poroshenko: NATO Only Mechanism Making World 'More Secured'

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is the "only" mechanism that ensures global security.

KIEV (Sputnik) – The Ukrainian government is seeking membership of both NATO and the European Union. Poroshenko vowed to hold a referendum on Ukraine’s accession into the 28-member bloc, but only after NATO requirements have been met.

“I think the NATO is the only unique mechanism which is effective and still working. We don’t have any alternative until now, and with NATO [the] world is much more secured, without doubt,” Poroshenko said in an interview with the US Fox News channel broadcast Monday.

Ukrainian lawmakers amended two bills in December 2014 canceling the country’s non-aligned status and setting it on a path toward NATO membership. Poroshenko’s military doctrine adopted last fall set a 2020 deadline to join the US-led military alliance, despite expert analysis casting doubt on Ukraine’s NATO aspirations in the next 20 years.

NATO has been beefing up its military presence in Eastern Europe since 2014, citing Russian alleged interference in Ukraine as a pretext. Up to 1,000 NATO troops could reportedly be deployed in the Baltics, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria following its Warsaw summit in July.