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NATO aims to resolve disagreements regarding Ukraine's membership request

Brussels: At their meeting this week in Oslo, NATO's foreign ministers will attempt to bridge differences over Ukraine's membership application. Allies are at odds over demands that Kiev be given a roadmap to membership at their summit in July.

As Western governments like the US and Germany are wary of actions they fear could take the alliance closer to engaging in an active war with Russia, NATO has not granted Ukraine's request for fast-track membership.

However, at the upcoming NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, on July 11–12, both Kiev and some of its closest allies in eastern Europe have been pressing for the alliance to at least take concrete steps to advance Ukraine's membership.

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Ingrida Simonyte, the prime minister of Lithuania, said on Friday that it would be "very sad" if anyone perceived the Vilnius summit's results as Russia's success in keeping Ukraine from ever joining NATO.

Jens Stoltenberg, the secretary-general of NATO, made it clear last week that Ukraine cannot join the organisation as long as the conflict with Russia is ongoing.

In the midst of a war, joining is not on the agenda, he said. "What happens after the war is over is the problem. At the Bucharest summit of NATO in 2008, it was decided that Ukraine would eventually join.

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However, authorities have since refrained from taking actions like presenting Kyiv with a membership action plan that would specify a timeline for the nation's accession to NATO.

Foreign ministers will also likely discuss the search for a new NATO leader during their Wednesday and Thursday meeting in Oslo, as Stoltenberg is set to retire in September.

Meanwhile, President Tayyip Erdogan's election victory in Turkiye has given attempts to end the impasse over Sweden's NATO ratification, which has been stalled by objections from Turkiye and Hungary, new momentum.

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However, there is little chance of progress in Oslo because Mevlut Cavusoglu, the Turkish foreign minister, won't be there, according to Sweden. Nevertheless, talks between Cavusoglu and Tobias Billstrom will take place "soon."

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