[vc_row][vc_column][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/MwaYFRVxSOw”][vc_column_text]Instead of ‘dividing and ruling’, Moscow seems to have egged Georgia and Ukraine on the rapprochement with NATO.
NATO and Georgia
To get the question of relations with NATO answered, Georgia held a referendum in January, 2008. Then, six months before the August war, 77% of citizens voted for joining the alliance. In 2014, Georgia gave consent to the deployment a joint training center of NATO in its territory, its armed forces were reformed on the pattern of the U.S. army.
On his way to the Warsaw Summit U.S. Secretary State John Kerry visited Georgia, where he signed an agreement to boost U.S. military cooperation and sent a not-so-subtle message to Russia.
“We are very proud of helping you shape your future. The United States have already allocated about $4.3 bn [financial aid], and we are working hard on the strategic part of our partnership and defense. I am happy to stay here on the eve of the NATO Summit in Warsaw,” he said in Tbilisi.
Then Kerry visited Ukraine on Thursday before heading to Poland to join U.S. President Barack Obama for the NATO summit.
NATO and Ukraine
In the 90s Ukraine’s relationship with NATO was as warm as Georgia’s. In June 1999, during the Kosovo crisis, Ukraine even closed its airspace to Russian aircraft which were flying to the Balkans for several hours. However, any sort of ‘friendship’ was out of the question at that time.
According to Roman Bezsmertnyi, Ukraine’s ambassador to Belarus in 2010-2011, it was the Russian Federation that was demonstrating the closest cooperation with NATO in the 90s.
“Let’s try and be non-biased: until recently, NATO cooperation with Russia were much more wider and deeper than its cooperation with Ukraine,” he told Belsat TV.
The majority of Ukrainians used to be sceptical about NATO. But over the past two years the situation has drastically changed.
“Before the war with Russia, only 16% of Ukrainians supported the country’s joining NATO, but now there are 52% of them,” Bezsmertnyi said.
From participation in international military exercises, Ukraine is moving to a new stage of cooperation with NATO, and the idea of its becoming a NATO member is no longer ab-fab.
“Such chance is within the realm of possibility for Georgia, Ukraine and, perhaps, Moldova. It is the aggressive policy of Putin that is pushing Ukraine to NATO. The number of NATO – and it’s no secret – is growing in Ukraine,” political observer Raman Yakauleuski told Belsat.eu when asked about post-Soviet countries’ prospects for joining NATO.
As long as the Donbas war is in progress, Ukraine’s membership in NATO is off the table, but the both sides are moving closer.
Read also: Belarusian volunteers in Donbass to learn from Americans
By the moment, NATO has been engaged in the training and instruction of the Ukrainian army, as well as in supplying military equipment to Ukrainians. Reliable Hammers are better arguments for former drivers of Soviet UAZ cars than politicians’ broad statements.
Denis Dziuba
Belsat TV program ‘Prasviet’ edition dedicated to 2016 NATO Summit in Warsaw:
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