Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada speaker hopes NATO parliaments back Ukraine's membership application

MOSCOW. June 1 (Interfax) - Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk has said he is hoping that parliaments of NATO member states will support Ukraine's application for entry into the North Atlantic Alliance.

"I would like to talk with my parliamentary colleagues, speakers at the summit [a meeting of parliament speakers from NATO member states and Ukraine in Vilnius], so that they give parliamentary support to Ukraine. [...] So that parliaments of NATO member states speak in favor of granting Ukraine's application for entry into NATO," the Ukrainian media quoted Stefanchuk as saying on a national telethon on Wednesday evening.

Such decisions have already been made by the parliaments of Lithuania, Poland and Estonia, Stefanchuk said. "We are expecting news from Latvia tomorrow," he said, thus announcing the Latvian parliament's support for the Ukrainian application for joining NATO.

Stefanchuk also said he was planning to have over ten meetings, including those with the president of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and colleagues from the United Kingdom, Lithuania, Estonia and Slovenia on the sidelines of the NATO parliament speakers summit in Vilnius.

"Here we will speak about the future of NATO and the future of NATO with Ukraine. It's a priority of Ukraine to take the path covered by Finland and followed by Sweden," Stefanchuk said.