NATO agrees to ease process of Ukraine's accession to alliance - Stoltenberg

VILNIUS. July 11 (Interfax) - NATO allies have agreed to ease the process of Ukraine joining the North Atlantic Alliance, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday.

"We agreed to remove the requirement for the Membership Action Plan. This would change Ukraine's membership path from a two-step process to a one-step process," Stoltenberg said at a press conference in Vilnius, Lithuania.

"We also made clear that we will issue an invitation for Ukraine to join NATO, when allies agree and conditions are met," he said.

NATO member countries have agreed at the summit to establish the NATO-Ukraine Council. The allies have also reached consensus on a multi-year support program aimed at bringing the Ukrainian Armed Forces to NATO standards.

Stoltenberg said in the run-up to the summit that NATO was pondering exempting Ukraine from the requirement to implement any Membership Action Plan.

Vilnius is hosting the NATO summit on July 11-12.