NATO should focus on Black Sea region: Ukrainian FM

By Dmitri Chirciu

LONDON (AA) - Ukraine’s foreign minister said Tuesday that NATO should focus on the Black Sea region.

The region is safe thanks to the presence of NATO and Turkey, Vadym Prystaiko said at a conference in London.

“The key to our neighbors in Turkey is the Black Sea region,” he added.

He said that while NATO is focused on northern Europe and the Baltic countries, Ukraine protects NATO’s eastern border.

Prystaiko added that Ukraine and Georgia were not invited to join NATO, which led Russia to first attack Georgia and then Ukraine.

NATO and Moscow remain divided over a number of issues, including separatists along Ukraine’s border with Russia, the illegal annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and Russian interference in Western elections.

*Writing by Gozde Bayar