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FORMER US DEFENSE SECRETARY ON UKRAINE'S POSSIBLE NATO MEMBERSHIP

RIA Novosti

WASHINGTON, FEBRUARY 22, (RIA Novosti's Alexander Bratersky) - Former US defense secretary William Perry thinks that it is still too early to talk about Ukraine's possible admission into NATO.

Europe can accomplish a lot for the sake of enhancing relations with Ukraine. This will help Ukraine to move forward; however, a military alliance should not be perceived as a top priority, Perry told RIA Novosti.

In his words, such relations should attach priority to economic-aid issues.

Economic aid to Ukraine in its striving to join the European Union should become a top priority, Perry, who now serves as professor at Stanford University, noted.

Brussels will host the Ukraine-NATO summit February 22. President Victor Yushchenko of Ukraine is to meet NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Schaeffer during this summit.

The NATO Secretary-General, who hopes to invigorate dialogue with Ukraine (after the election of Victor Yushchenko as Ukraine's President), noted some time ago that NATO's doors remained open to Ukraine. However, it is still too early to talk about specific membership deadlines, he added.

Robert Hunter, who had served as US ambassador to NATO headquarters, and who is now an expert with RAND Corporation's Washington-based political institute, believes that Ukraine still has a long way to go, before it can join the alliance.

Ukraine still has a long way to go, so that it would prove that it can match

NATO standards, Hunter told RIA Novosti. In his words, the list of such criteria includes better national democratic standards.

Former deputy Polish defense minister Radek Sikorski, who now works as a political scientist for the American business institute, is sure that Ukraine's admission into NATO will be expedited under President Yushchenko because Ukraine views NATO as a "brand" (that highlights affiliation with Western values), first and foremost.

NATO is a brand, which makes prospective investors confident, and which turns servicemen into uniformed citizens, rather than uniformed ideologists, Sikorski told RIA Novosti.

Previously, Deputy US Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said that Ukraine could join the alliance three years from now.