Ukraine’s Foreign Minister of Dmytro Kuleba called inappropriate the statement of Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid that Ukraine will need at least 20 years to join the European Union. According to the Estonian official, neither Ukraine, Georgia, nor Moldova meet the requirements for EU membership yet.

“We are disappointed with such statements and consider them inappropriate. We brought this position to the Estonian Foreign Ministry, to the Estonian Ambassador to Ukraine. We believe that such things should not be heard from friends and partners,” Kuleba told Ukraine 24, quoted by IPN.

“A little over 20 years ago, Western countries in the same mentoring tone told Estonians, Lithuanians, Latvians that it takes 20-30 years to mature in the EU and NATO. Therefore, of course, it was strange for me to hear these words from the President of Estonia  (…) I do not know what influenced it in the interview, but these statements do not correspond to the friendly nature of our relations,” added said.

During the same interview with Ukraine’s Yevropeiska Pravda, the Estonian president stated that the three countries would benefit from a certain “intermediate stage” on the way to European integration and that the path of EU membership would take “a lot of time”.