Former US Secretary of State Kissinger called for Ukraine to join NATO for the security of the European Union
Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger called for Ukraine to be admitted to NATO for the security of the European Union due to improved national weapons and its lack of experienced leadership. He stated this in an interview with Economist.
In his opinion, he would like Ukraine to join the North Atlantic Alliance for two reasons. First, Kissinger believes, Russia is no longer a conventional threat.
Secondly, if the conflict ends not in favor of Moscow, the world will get “a disgruntled Russia, as well as a disgruntled Ukraine” with strong weapons, the former US Secretary of State predicted.
Therefore, for the sake of European security, it is better to have Ukraine in NATO, where it cannot make decisions on territorial claims at the national level.
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Why did Kissinger change his mind?
In his book Leadership: Six Lessons of World Strategy, Kissinger wrote that Ukraine’s neutral status is the way to end the conflict with Russia and bring peace to the region. According to him, because of the vast territories, Russia “constantly feels insecure” of its borders.
From this logic, he deduced that Moscow cannot allow Kyiv to join NATO. The contradiction, he wrote, could be eliminated by a neutral status for Ukraine and specific security guarantees from other states.
However, in January of this year, during a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the former diplomat changed his mind on Ukraine’s entry into NATO. He stated that in the future the country will need to be accepted into the North Atlantic Alliance.
I believe that Ukrainian membership in NATO will be the right outcome
Kissinger explained his early statements against Ukraine’s membership in NATO and other military alliances with the fear that this could provoke the conflict “which is now observed.” Now, he believes, the idea of Ukraine’s neutral status “doesn’t make sense anymore.”
The diplomat also urged the United States to continue to support the resistance of Ukraine and increase its military assistance until the end of the conflict.
In May, speaking about negotiations on a peaceful settlement of the conflict in Ukraine, the former US Secretary of State predicted that they could begin by the end of this year. He suggested that the Ukrainian crisis is now approaching a tipping point.
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Expectations from the July NATO summit
On July 11-12, the next NATO summit will be held in Vilnius. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky called on the members of the alliance to make a positive decision on the country’s membership.
The time has come (…) to make a positive decision on NATO membership, this should be done already at the July summit of the alliance, it will be timely
At the same time, the Washington Post newspaper wrote that NATO members decided not to send an invitation to Ukraine to join the bloc at the July summit in Vilnius. However, according to the publication, the countries of the alliance are still striving to “overcome differences over Ukraine’s membership”, discussing the possibility of increasing interaction with the Ukrainian side, as well as the timing of the republic’s entry into the alliance.
In addition, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said that only NATO can guarantee Kyiv’s security. According to him, Ukraine expects a real practical and political push towards joining the alliance.
The only organization that can give her [Украине] effective security guarantees, is NATO. NATO summit to be held in Vilnius on July 11-12 – during it, the path to membership must be paved
Despite this, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace stressed that as long as the conflict in Ukraine continues, Kyiv’s immediate entry into the NATO alliance is impossible, at least for now. According to him, now the most important thing for the country is “to create post-conflict resilience.”
Once we help Ukraine successfully defend itself, this resilience will be used to deter [восточную угрозу]. The political question, whether Ukraine should directly become a member of NATO, is not one that should be decided by 31 members [альянса] right now”
The British Defense Secretary added that without a roadmap for the accession process, “it is not yet the time to talk about Ukraine’s NATO membership in the near future.”
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