❗ After putin signed the decrees on the “accession” of four partially occupied Ukrainian regions, the President of Ukraine announced that the country would apply for accession to NATO in an accelerated manner. The reaction of the NATO leadership was immediate. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg during a briefing on September 30, as expected, did not answer a direct question about the possibility of such an entry. After all, the Secretary General of NATO only coordinates the activities of the organization, and the issue of joining NATO must be decided by all member states. At the same time, Stoltenberg clearly stated that NATO does not recognize russia’s attempts to annex Ukrainian territories, and supporting Ukraine remains the main focus of the Alliance’s attention. When asked by a Ukrainian journalist about Ukraine’s application for accelerated NATO membership, Stoltenberg repeated that every democratic country in Europe has the right to apply for membership in the Alliance. Jake Sullivan, the US President’s national security advisor, emphasized that the US does not give up its support for the “open door” policy for NATO, but believes that the process of Ukraine’s accession to NATO would be better implemented at a different time.
🔎 So far, the leaders of nine NATO countries from Central and Eastern Europe have published a joint statement regarding Ukraine’s accession to the Alliance. The statement was signed by Czech President Miloš Zeman, Estonian President Alar Karis, Latvian President Egils Levits, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda, North Macedonian President Stevo Pendarovski, Montenegrin President Milo Đukanović, Polish President Andrzej Duda, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis and Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová. They condemned russia’s annexation of Ukrainian territories and called on NATO to significantly increase military aid to Ukraine and expressed support for the decision of the Bucharest NATO Summit in 2008 regarding Ukraine’s future membership in the Alliance. Another country that immediately supported Ukraine’s accession to NATO after Zelenskyy’s statement was Canada, in particular the Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Melanie Jolie. Thus, Ukraine’s membership in NATO was publicly supported by 10 of the 30 member states of the Alliance. In addition, the United States and Germany provided verbal support for Ukraine’s membership in NATO. NATO will finally form a position on Ukraine’s accession to the Alliance after consideration of the application by all member countries and the conclusions of all NATO structures.
❓ Can Ukraine count on a positive change in the position of NATO members, who were previously skeptical of our country joining the Alliance? Will all NATO member states agree to the accelerated admission to the alliance of a country on whose territory military operations are taking place and part of whose territory is openly claimed by another state that has a significant arsenal of nuclear weapons?
☝️Many leaders of NATO member countries have already answered positively to this difficult question.
Without a doubt, there will be those leaders who will strongly disagree with such an opportunity. Hungary, which has chosen a pro-russian position since the beginning of the full-scale russian invasion and refuses to cooperate closely in ensuring Ukraine’s defense capability, may become an opponent of Ukraine’s entry into the Alliance. However, there is a belief that against the background of Ukrainian victories, Budapest will radically change its position and support Ukraine’s accession to NATO. Ukrainian diplomats believe that Ankara’s position regarding Ukraine’s application will not be as radical as during the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO.
❗️ Kyiv’s appeal to NATO changes the logic and dynamics of Ukraine’s accession to the Alliance. In fact, Ukraine has already become a member of NATO, it remains to consolidate it legally.
✅ Among the unambiguously positive membership criteria for Ukraine is the fact that our country serves as a security buffer for Europe and russia. The victories of the Armed Forces of Ukraine at the front have increased the status of the Ukrainian army in the eyes of the world community, so NATO is currently interested in such a strong ally as Ukraine.
🔺A significant plus upon joining will be the fact that Ukraine is perhaps the closest among European countries to meeting the requirements for NATO membership. Currently, a significant part of the Alliance states have lower indicators than Ukraine in mastering these requirements, moreover, there is not a single NATO member that would fully fulfill them. During the six months of the war, Ukraine cooperates with NATO more deeply than some formal members – it has mastered more than 300 NATO standards, successfully uses high-tech NATO weapons on the battlefield.
✅ In the issue of joining NATO, the key is not even the fulfillment of the list of requirements, but the readiness of the country to fulfill the duties of a member of the bloc. Especially since the example of Finland and Sweden showed that it is possible to join NATO without an agreed Action Plan on membership.
🔻 Today, Ukraine, together with international partners, is preparing a bilateral agreement on security guarantees during the transition period of our country’s accession to NATO. This international document should be multilateral, of a new format with specific actions in response to threats that will arise or arise for the territorial integrity of the countries that are parties to this agreement. It is too early to talk about the results, but in the final version of the negotiations, it will be possible to form a political consensus of 30 countries, and this
will contribute to the fact that sooner or later Ukraine will be part of NATO.
☝️ Thus, today Ukraine has every reason to become a full-fledged member of the North Atlantic Alliance in a unique format. The time of adoption depends on the extent to which the bureaucratic component in the very structure of NATO, which today works against the global foundations of national security, will be neutralized.
