Political scientist Olenchenko: the main topic of the upcoming NATO summit will be the degree of support for Ukraine
The central theme of the upcoming NATO summit, which will be held in Vilnius on July 11-12, will be the question of how the countries of the alliance will continue to support Ukraine. Vladimir Olenchenko, senior researcher at the Center for European Studies at IMEMO RAS, named the main conflict within the framework of the meeting of leaders of the countries of the Lente.ru block.
“The issue of the summit has been at the center of the information agenda for quite a long time. One can see the desire of the United States and the European countries closest to them to somehow secure Ukraine in NATO. The question arises of a possible half-measure, that is, the creation of a NATO-Ukraine Council. Naturally, we consider this a provocation, a measure that leads to a further escalation of the military conflict in Ukraine,” the political scientist said.
To summarize, there is a struggle between two opinions that, on the one hand, NATO needs to stop its involvement in the conflict in Ukraine, and on the other hand, that NATO should take additional obligations towards Ukraine, expand assistance
In this context, he recalled the proposal put forward by former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen on guarantees for Ukraine regarding its entry into the alliance.
“This idea was provocative: if Ukraine finds it difficult, then some countries that are most focused on supporting Kyiv can send a limited contingent of their troops to Ukraine – Fogh Rasmussen meant Poland and the Baltic countries. This idea still did not find support among the leading European NATO countries,” Olenchenko explained.
Earlier, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that he expects the participants of the upcoming summit to adopt a multi-year plan of assistance to Ukraine for its rapprochement with the organization. The head of the alliance also said that President of the Republic Volodymyr Zelensky would still go to Vilnius to participate in the summit.
Prior to this, the ex-Foreign Minister of Poland and MEP Witold Waszczykowski said that most of the expectations from the upcoming NATO summit will not be realized. In his view, the event will be filled with promises “from which little will come of it” but will be considered a success.
#Named #main #conflict #NATO #countries #upcoming #alliance #summit