During another meeting in the Ramstein format, the first gathering of the Ukraine-NATO commission on the ministers of defense level happened due to it being previously blocked by Hungary. At the same time, the Ukrainian minister of defense, Oleksiy Reznikov, told journalists the first meeting might also be the last one if, after the Vilnius summit Ukraine-NATO council will start functioning.
Ukrainian politicians themselves have mixed views about the creation of such a council. Reznikov talks about the new format of cooperation: “Despite Ukraine not being a NATO member yet, it will participate on equal terms in all committee meetings and will have the right to raise issues at all meetings of the representatives.”
On the other hand, Ukraine’s minister of foreign affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, called the potential NATO-Ukraine Council “a tank without a gun.”
The Creation of the Ukraine-NATO Council without taking a big step towards membership is like delivering a tank without a gun. NATO needs Ukraine as an ally and not only as a privileged partner – he said after a conversation with the head of the German diplomacy Annalena Baerbock.
The council’s establishment is, without a doubt, the most that Ukraine can accomplish during the July summit of the Alliance in Vilnius.
There is no agreement among the NATO members about a strict schedule that could be presented for Ukraine’s accession. There is also no agreement about the accession on its own. Many believe that the closer Ukraine is to NATO, the smaller are chances of reaching an agreement with Russia. Such a stance should, of course, make Vladimir Putin happy and demonstrate his continuous influence on the minds of politicians of the “collective West.” In reality, it is the opposite.
The closer Ukraine is to NATO membership, and the more obvious its integration with the Alliance is, the more obvious will be the pointlessness of the war for Putin.
Because of that, the statement “Ukraine needs to become a NATO member after the war” itself, supported by Kyiv’s fervent allies, looks like political suicide. I have an impression that the Western politicians who are in favor of such a solution are convinced they can be heard in Kyiv but not in Moscow.
However, Kyiv draws an essential conclusion from such a statement: if the war ends and Ukraine join NATO, there will be no other war, as Russia will not risk a war with the whole Alliance.
The same conclusion can also be drawn in Moscow: if we end the war, there will be no other chance. So we need to fight endlessly, and even if we have no strength, under no circumstances can we negotiate. After all, NATO will not accept into its ranks a country at war with nuclear power. They are not suicidal!
Therefore, much to the pain of the West, if the Alliance were to accept Ukraine not tomorrow but yesterday, it would be the end of Ukrainian suffering. Not only because NATO does not want war with Russia but also because Russia does not want war with NATO. For the war with Ukraine outside of NATO, Putin is ready. If the West really wants to end the war one day, the heads of the leading countries of the civilized world will not do without a risky war anyway. It is just the later they make it, the more people will die, and more of Ukrainian territory will be destroyed. This is the price of delay.
Vitaly Portnikov for vot-tak.tv/belsat.eu
The opinions and thoughts expressed in the text reflect only the author's views.
