Asked if Georgia and Ukraine joining the NATO would exacerbate relations with Russia, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said “it is the right for any sovereign nation to decide its own path.”

Speaking at an event hosted by Brookings Institution and Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., the Secretary General rebuffed on October 5 the notion that Russia’s small neighbors joining NATO would be a “provocation” to Moscow as “absolutely wrong.”

"Of course it's only for NATO members and Georgia and Ukraine to decide when they're ready to join. Not Russia. So we support their efforts to modernize, to reform, to meet the NATO standards. And when 30 Allies agree that they are ready to join, they will join. I cannot tell you when that will happen, but that's the only way that this can be dealt with. Having said that, I think it's obvious that it won't happen tomorrow, that they will join. So therefore, my message to NATO Allies, and also something I discussed actually yesterday with President Biden, is that we need to step up and do more for those aspirant countries. Because as long as they're not members we should provide more support, more training, more capacity building, help to implement reforms, fight corruption and build the security and defence institutions. So we need to establish that there is a lot in between nothing and full membership. And that's what I'm pushing hard in within NATO and I hope that we can make some ambitious decisions at the next NATO Summit. But again, that doesn't change the sovereign right of every nation to choose its own path," Stoltenberg said.