US
President Joe Biden pledged nothing to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin
about Ukraine’s NATO membership, a White House official said on Monday. As
Biden stated last month, there was no expectation that Ukraine would be able to
join NATO anytime soon.

Also Read: In Ukraine’s volatile east, a day of shelling, outages, fear

This
meant that Ukraine is not going to join NATO in the near term. The official
also said that Ukraine needs to work much more in terms of democracy and a few
other things going on there, and whether or not the major allies in the West
would vote to bring Ukraine in right now.

Also Read: ‘Catastrophic’ if Ukraine-Russia crisis escalates into war: UN chief

Earlier
Monday in a United National Security Council (UNSC) meeting, Russian President
Vladimir Putin suggested that Biden had given him an assurance Ukraine would
not be admitted to NATO soon and its potential membership might be subject to a
moratorium. 

Also Read: Allies watch for Kremlin attempt to justify Russia’s Ukraine invasion

“The
American colleague assured me that Ukraine is not going to be admitted [to
NATO] tomorrow,” Putin said. “Moreover, some kind of moratorium is
possible.”

“My
answer is simple: We believe that this is not a concession to us, it is simply
the implementation of your plans,” Putin added.

Also Read: UK intelligence claims Russia could invade Ukraine without further warning

Earlier
on Sunday, US Vice President Kamala Harris said, “NATO is a membership — it is
about nations coming together as a group, making decisions collectively, around
again, principles, and what will be then the conditions and the standards of
membership. And so that is the process. It doesn’t happen overnight.”

“No
one country can say I want to be in, therefore I will be, and no one country
can say you can’t be. And isn’t that at the heart of the very issue we are
presented with in terms of Russia’s aggression, or stated aggression towards
Ukraine,” she added.

Also Read: Ukraine crisis: Blinken urges Russia to ‘abandon path of war’ at UNSC

Meanwhile,
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will travel to Paris to meet with his
French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian on Friday to hold preparatory talks for a
meeting between French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir
Putin, according to a statement from the French Foreign Ministry on
Monday.