Poroshenko to Submit Motion on Rejection of Ukraine's Non-Aligned Status

President Poroshenko has taken the decision to return Ukraine to the course toward NATO integration, he said addressing Polish lawmakers in Warsaw. Ukraine's non-aligned status was outlined in a 2010 law signed by Viktor Yanukovych.

KIEV, December 17 (Sputnik) — Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Wednesday he was going to submit a bill to the parliament on ending the country's non-aligned status upon his return to Kiev from Poland.

"Ukraine's non-aligned status has failed to guarantee our integrity, so I have taken the decision to return Ukraine to the course towards integration with NATO," Poroshenko said addressing Polish lawmakers in Warsaw.

"I will submit the motion to the Verkhovna Rada as soon as I return to Ukraine," he said.

"We are already working to strengthen our cooperation with NATO, and we have a lot of work ahead of us to meet NATO membership standards," the president added.

In 2010, Ukraine's then-president Viktor Yanukovych signed a law outlining the country's non-aligned status. In August, Ukrainian authorities introduced a bill to abolish the country's non-aligned status and put the country back on track to join NATO.

On Monday, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg discussed Kiev's cooperation with the alliance and its accession. Ukrainian Minister Counsellor Yehor Bozhok said that the agenda included topics such as the restoration of Euro-Atlantic integration and the steps that Ukraine needed to take to facilitate its "rapprochement" with NATO.

Earlier this year, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Ukraine's non-aligned status is in the best interests of the Ukrainian people, the country's neighboring states and European security in general. He also pointed out that the issue was a matter of principle for Russia.