US Senator: The former Soviet republics still outside NATO would not be accepted into the alliance

WORLD, Jul. 16 (YPA) – In an article for American Conservative magazine, US  Senator Rand Paul expressed his belief that former Soviet republics still outside NATO would not be accepted into the alliance.

As a result of NATO’s fifth enlargement in 2004, the Baltic countries of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia joined the Alliance.

“We can no longer keep throwing words while we sit idly by for emotional and political gains,” the senator said. “When we discuss NATO expansion, we must make it clear that the remaining countries that were part of the Soviet Union will not be accepted into the alliance.”

He stressed that Russia would not tolerate and would not accept the deployment of certain weapons systems in Finland.

At the June 29 summit, NATO leaders formally invited Sweden and Finland to join the alliance. This became possible after several rounds of negotiations with Turkey, including at the highest level, after which Ankara withdrew its objections to the accession of the new members.

E.M