As of: February 1, 2024, 5:03 p.m
By: Laura May
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Former NATO Secretary General Rasmussen visits Kiev.
© IMAGO/Ukraine Presidency
At a seminar in Kiev, Anders Fogh Rasmussen spoke out in favor of Ukraine joining NATO.
Otherwise, Russia has no reason to end the war.
Kiev – NATO should invite Ukraine to its meeting in July.
This is what the former Secretary General of the Western military alliance, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, is calling for.
After speaking positively about Ukraine joining NATO during the war in an interview with the
Guardian
in November , he now confirmed his stance during a visit to Kiev.
For Rasmussen, the final military alliance between the West and Ukraine does not mean any further provocation towards Putin.
For him, however, Ukraine joining NATO could even function as an “instrument against Russia’s war”.
He also spoke out again in favor of arms deliveries.
Ukraine's NATO accession: Putin currently has virtual veto power
The Danish politician said it was dangerous to associate Ukraine's accession to NATO with an end to the war in Ukraine.
For Russia and Vladimir Putin, this would essentially mean a veto right.
According to the logic: As long as we are at war, Ukraine will not join NATO.
This situation would not only be relevant to the situation in Ukraine, but would also be an “extremely dangerous message to the whole world,” said Rasmussen, also with regard to the conflict between China and Taiwan.
“I know that inviting Ukraine would be controversial and unprecedented,” Rasmussen said, according to a report by the
Kyiv Independent
.
No country that has been at war has ever joined NATO - it would be a precedent that changes NATO's position for the wars of the future.
Rasmussen: “NATO membership promise to Ukraine in 2008 was the biggest mistake”
In September 2022, Ukraine officially applied to join NATO.
At the time, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said vaguely that he could not say when Ukraine would become a member, “but that it will.”
Experts believe that Ukraine joining NATO is unlikely as long as the war in Ukraine continues.
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Rasmussen criticizes this attitude.
When asked by the
Kyiv Independent
what was NATO's biggest mistake in dealing with Ukraine, he said: "Promising Ukraine NATO membership in 2008 and then doing nothing." He was referring to the NATO summit in Bucharest, where Ukraine and Georgia were not invited, but were nevertheless promised to join.
France and Germany blocked Ukraine's invitation to NATO in 2008
France and Germany blocked the invitation at the time, which Kiev criticized harshly.
Angela Merkel defended the decision, also because Russia repeatedly threatened NATO if she invited the two countries.
For Rasmussen, who took office as NATO Secretary General in 2009, the decision was a mistake “that we should not repeat.”
Most recently, Finland's accession to NATO led to discussions about the eastward expansion of the military alliance.
(Laura May)