Ukraine and Georgia unfit for NATO; NATO chief

Neither Ukraine nor Georgia are ready to join NATO and neither is likely to be ready for it soon, the alliance's secretary general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said Tuesday, citing the complicated political situation in the two states.

Speaking in London with foreign policy experts before he leaves his post next week after five and a half years, de Hoop Scheffer reminded allies that any member state of NATO should comply with certain requirements.

Any European country is entitled to apply for membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, de Hoop Scheffer was quoted by Itar Tass as saying.

But a wish to join NATO does not automatically mean admission to the alliance, he said.

“Neither Ukraine, nor Georgia today are ready to join NATO,” he said, since the political situation in Ukraine is “complicated,” and in Georgia it is “also difficult.”

The former Soviet states of Georgia and Ukraine have long been looking to join NATO, which has angered Russia. The US, on the contrary, supports the two states' bid for NATO membership.