A three-day visit to Kyiv of members of the House of Commons
Defense Committee ended last Friday. They were interested above all in
Ukraine's attitude toward NATO.
In general, the Committee is preparing for the House of Commons a document
on the future of the Alliance before the NATO Washington summit later in
April. After visiting France, Germany, and NATO headquarters, the British
became convinced that the report would be incomplete without dotting all
the i's and crossing the t's, i.e., information on the attitude toward
NATO of such countries as Russia and Ukraine. What at least somewhat pleased
the British in Kyiv was the "complete diversity" of views on the alliance's
expansion as distinct from Russia's unanimous enmity. According to Committee
Chairman Bruce George, Ukraine does not belong to the countries trying
to force the alliance's door open. So one must see if Ukraine is really
enthusiastic about joining NATO.
Members of the delegation do not say so far what they will write in
the report. Its official text will be released in mid-April. It is only
known it may be "strongly-worded."






