TEHRAN -- Ukraine’s
ambassador to Tehran has deplored the West’s reluctance to accept his country into NATO, saying Kiev ought to enhance its military capabilities and develop a strong and independent army, like that of Iran.
“So why should we go to a place where they are not waiting for us?” he told Tasnim news agency.
Now that the West and NATO are not ready to accept Ukraine, Kiev should have its own army and forces, the ambassador said.
Burdyliak cited Iran as an example to follow, “a country that has its own army, supports and protects it, invests on it, and produces and develops its own weapons, albeit sanctions”.
The ambassador said while Ukraine intends to join NATO and is being rejected, a series of other countries, whose plans to join NATO have received a warm response, pose a much more serious threat to Russia, like Finland whose missiles would reach Saint Petersburg much faster than those of Ukraine.
“Therefore, the main reason for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is not (Ukraine’s) membership in NATO. I believe that analysts and politicians, either in the West or the East, who claim that the main reason for Putin’s attack on Ukraine was NATO’s membership, are mistaken,” the envoy said.