NEWSWATCH “Ukraine will not join EU, NATO for another 20-25 years, Juncker says” – DPA

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The push for closer ties between Ukraine and the EU lies at the heart of the current crisis … triggered by protests in 2013 over a failed attempt to finalize … EU-Ukraine free trade …. The agreement has since been signed and implemented, while the EU is paving the way for Ukrainian citizens to be able to visit the bloc without visas. Top officials in Ukraine have also repeatedly expressed the wish to join the EU. … Jean-Claude Juncker said … Thursday … ‘Ukraine will definitely not be able to become a member of the EU in the next 20-25 years, and not of NATO….”

Ukraine has shown increasing support for the Western military alliance in recent years, after Russia annexed its southern Crimea peninsula in 2014 and then supported a pro-Russian separatist rebellion in Ukraine’s east.

Ukraine hosted NATO military exercises last year in an apparent show of force against its formidable eastern neighbour.

Click here for DPA: Ukraine will not join EU, NATO for another 20-25 years, Juncker says.

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