Slovenia reserved about Ukraine’s joining NATO

Vitanje – Slovenia is reserved about Ukraine’s joining NATO due to major security risks involved, Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon told reporters on Tuesday. “If NATO were to take a decision to admit Ukraine as member, it could be a clear declaration of the start of war,” she said on the sidelines of an event in Vitanje.

Asked about Slovenia’s potential support for Ukraine’s request to join NATO, Fajon said Slovenia had been helping Ukraine to the best of its abilities in the form of humanitarian, development as well as military aid, which it would continue to do as long as Ukraine needed the assistance.

The minister said the war in Ukraine was escalating amid concerns that Russia could use tactical nuclear weapons, adding that Slovenia had condemned Russia’s annexation of Ukrainian territories in the strongest terms.

“This escalation of the situation, and consequently Ukraine’s application or Ukraine’s talks on NATO membership, are cause for grave concern,” she said.

If NATO was to consider admitting Ukraine it would be a major security risk, so Fajon believes serious discussion was needed in the country “where such a situation is leading to”. Slovenia advocates a policy of peace, dialogue, and any such decision-making leads to escalation, which no one wants, she said.

Asked whether talks were under way in Slovenia on the issue of Ukraine’s membership of NATO, Fajon said Slovenia did not join the statement initiated by Poland last week that indirectly expressed support for Ukraine’s membership of NATO.

The issue is being discussed today by state secretaries affiliated with the Foreign Ministry and the PM’s office, and Fajon discussed the matter with the chair of the parliamentary Foreign Policy Committee in the morning. She announced they would “sit down together this week to talk through several open issues in relation to Russia and the escalation of the war in Ukraine”.

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