Ukraine declared that it would not settle for anything less than NATO membership to ensure its future security. But the alliance bypassed Kiev’s request for an immediate invitation to a meeting of foreign ministers this Tuesday (3).
In a letter to NATO ministers ahead of the meeting, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said an invitation would eliminate one of Russia’s main arguments for war: preventing Ukraine from joining the alliance.
Although NATO has declared that Ukraine’s path to membership is “irreversible,” the alliance has not set a date or issued an invitation. Diplomats said there is currently no consensus among its 32 members to do so.
Some countries are waiting to decide their position until they know what US President-elect Donald Trump’s stance will be, according to officials. The US is the predominant power in NATO.
Following talks between Sybiha and NATO ministers during dinner at the alliance’s headquarters in Brussels, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis told reporters there had been “no progress” on the issue of membership.
Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said his country was part of a group that sees the invitation as “a necessary step” but added: “I don’t think there is… agreement on this.”
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, whose government has close ties to Russia and who visited Moscow this week, said Budapest continues to oppose Ukraine’s NATO membership.
“This country is at war and a country at war cannot contribute to the security of the alliance,” he told Reuters.
Some analysts and diplomats have suggested that Ukraine could receive security guarantees from individual Western countries rather than a guarantee from NATO as a whole.
Keith Kellogg, a former general recently named by Trump as his special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, co-authored a paper this year that argued for delaying Ukraine’s NATO membership “for an extended period” in exchange for a “ peace agreement with security guarantees”.
But Ukraine insisted it would accept nothing less than NATO, citing its experience with a 30-year-old pact in which it gave up nuclear weapons in exchange for security guarantees from major powers that proved futile.
Sybiha criticized a copy of that agreement, known as the Budapest Memorandum, upon its arrival at NATO.
“This document failed to guarantee Ukrainian security and transatlantic security, therefore, we must avoid (repeating) these mistakes,” he said.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said the alliance was “building the bridge” to Ukraine’s membership, but the more pressing issue was providing Kiev with more weapons to repel Russian forces, as President Vladimir Putin did not is interested in peace.
He said the meeting would focus on ensuring Ukraine was in a position of strength when it enters peace talks.
“And to get there, it is crucial that more military aid is injected into Ukraine.”
This content was originally published in Ukraine pushes to become a member of NATO, but allies avoid invitation on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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