CRI听力:Former PM Calls for NATO Ukraine Referendum

Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is calling for a referendum on NATO membership.

Tymoshenko has submitted documents to the Central Electoral Commission in Kiev, asking for a nationwide vote on whether or not to join the organization.

"The only one guarantee that could work after we destroyed our nuclear weapons is to join NATO. We have to improve on our failures in the past urgently if we want peace for our country, if we want unity for our country. Today we bring documents calling for a referendum on joining NATO. All documents were made according to the law."

Tymoshenko is calling for the referendum on whether to join NATO to be held at the same time as Ukraine's upcoming parliamentary elections in October.

Ukrainian officials have suggested they may be willing to consider applying for NATO membership.

This would break a previous Ukranian pledge to remain non-aligned.