Russia has been warning NATO for years that eastward expansion of the alliance would lead to a stalemate. Jan Oberg, director of the Swedish analytical center Transnational Foundation for Peace & Future Research, wrote about this on June 8 in an article for a Chinese newspaper. Global Times.
“As with any manifestation of incrementalism and any non-contractual operations, there will definitely come a day when you hit a wall. Ukraine has become such a wall for NATO, although high-ranking Western politicians and all Russian presidents and foreign ministers over the past 30 years have repeatedly warned the alliance about this possibility, ”he said.
The analyst believes that the North Atlantic alliance constantly violates all agreements, since it conducts its operations outside the bloc. Oberg noted that, according to Article 51 of the UN Charter, the military means of NATO states can only be used in self-defense.
Among other violations of the alliance, the author identified the invention of the category of “partners” – states that are not officially part of the organization, but in fact they can be considered full members.
Earlier, on June 7, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that if Ukraine does not win the conflict with Russia, then there will be no point in discussing its membership in the alliance. On the same day, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre noted that the United States would not try to speed up the process of Ukraine’s admission to the North Atlantic Alliance.
In mid-May, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on NATO at the summer summit, which will be held on July 11-12, to make a positive decision on the country’s membership in the organization.
However, on June 1, Zelensky said that Ukraine’s hopes for NATO membership were becoming increasingly distant. He believes that the time has come for NATO to decide on Ukraine’s entry into the North Atlantic Alliance.
On May 30, the Politico newspaper reported that at the July summit in Vilnius, the Ukrainian authorities want to receive a “clear signal” about an invitation to NATO. It is indicated that the eastern countries of the bloc are in support of Kyiv. At the same time, it is noted that Ukraine will not be able to join the alliance until the hostilities come to an end.
On May 24, Stoltenberg stated that the issue of Ukraine’s accession to NATO would not be considered during the conflict.
Prior to this, on May 21, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on the sidelines of the G7 summit that Ukraine does not meet many of the criteria necessary for joining NATO. He emphasized that it was initially clear that “this will not happen in the foreseeable future.”
On September 30, 2022, the Ukrainian leader announced that the country had applied to join the military-political bloc in an expedited manner. However, Assistant to the President of the United States for National Security Jake Sullivan stressed that the expansion of the alliance is now untimely.
#West #remembered #warnings #Russian #Federation #issue #NATO #expansion