9 NATO Members’ Presidents Issue Statement over Annexation Issue

“We, Presidents of Central and Eastern Europe, countries whose leaders have visited Kyiv during the war and witnessed with their own eyes the effects of Russian aggression, cannot stay silent in the face of the blatant violation of international law by the Russian Federation,” presidents of several NATO members, including Stevo Pendarovski, say over, as they say, the Russian attempts to illegally annex Ukrainian territories. Therefore, they have issued a statement. “We reiterate our support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. We do not recognise and will never recognise Russian attempts to annex any Ukrainian territory. We firmly stand behind the 2008 Bucharest NATO Summit decision concerning Ukraine’s future membership. We support Ukraine in its defence against Russia’s invasion, demand Russia to immediately withdraw from all the occupied territories and encourage all Allies to substantially increase their military aid to Ukraine. All those who commit crimes of aggression must be held accountable and brought to justice,” it reads. The statement has been issued by Pendarovski and his counterparts, President Milos Zeman (Czech Republic), Alar Karis (Estonia), Egils Levits (Latvia), Gitanas Nauseda (Lithuania), Milo Djukanovic (Montenegro), Andrzej Duda (Poland), Klaus Iohannis (Romania), and Zuzana Caputova (Slovakia).