As of: March 31, 2024, 5:10 a.m
By: Lisa Mahnke
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Ground troops from a NATO state in Ukraine would not involve everyone. To achieve this, measures must be adhered to. A risk remains.
Berlin – The deployment of ground troops by a NATO member state would not automatically make all countries parties to the conflict. This is what the Bundestag's scientific services assessed in response to a query from AfD MP Beatrix von Storch about the effects of ground troops. Accordingly, only the state that sends the troops would become a party to the conflict.
“If the NATO member state acts unilaterally – i.e. not within the framework of a previously decided NATO operation and outside of NATO military command structures – neither NATO as a whole nor the other NATO partner states become parties to the conflict,” it says in the unpublished status the so-called “Parliament think tank” according to the
dpa
. According to their own statements, the approximately 100 employees in eight departments work in a “party-politically neutral and factually objective manner”.
France in view: Macron open to ground troops in Ukraine
French President Emmanuel Macron did not rule out a ground troop deployment to Ukraine at the end of February. This not only met with criticism within his country, but also raised concerns in other NATO member states. Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) expressed a clear rejection of possible Western soldiers in Ukraine. Even Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky initially rejected support from ground troops from NATO states in an interview with a French television station.
“If troops of a NATO member state engage in collective self-defense (Article 51 of the UN Charter) on behalf of Ukraine in an existing conflict (between Russia and Ukraine) and are thereby attacked by the other party to the conflict (Russia) in the course of combat in the conflict area attacked, this does not constitute a case of Article 5 of the NATO Treaty,” the paper continues.
Requirements for ground force operations: Unilateral and outside NATO territory
The prerequisite: the state must act unilaterally, “not within the framework of a previously decided NATO operation and outside of NATO military command structures.” French ground troops in Ukraine are permissible under international law, write the Bundestag experts. NATO ground troops, on the other hand, would violate this requirement.
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According to the statement, the alliance case, which is stipulated in Article Five of the NATO Treaty, only applies if the territory of a NATO state is also attacked. As long as the ground troops operate in areas outside NATO and Russia does not launch a counterattack on French territory, no other NATO member states would be involved.
This is also what the expert paper says: "A military reaction by Russia against targets in France would, on the other hand, constitute an (in violation of international law) 'armed attack' within the meaning of Article 5 of the NATO Treaty, which established the factual prerequisites for a proclamation of the NATO alliance."
Ground troops permitted – but not without worries: Alliance conditions still apply on NATO territory
“Putin's goal was and is to destroy Ukraine's existence as an independent, free country and to drag NATO into a war,” said Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (The Greens) to the
Funke media group
. If that were the case, then this would not be possible through French ground troops in Ukraine alone, as the current status of the scientific services showed.
However, a possible counterattack on NATO territory by Russia could still cause the alliance to collapse. Support from ground troops is permissible, but the expert paper cannot relieve concerns
.
Macron does not completely reject the deployment of ground troops in Ukraine. © Christof STACHE / AFP
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov recently spoke of a
“
war against the collective West” instead of a special military operation. According to the US Institute for War Studies, Russia is seeking public financing, which indicates preparation for a war with NATO. “It’s our turn right now. Then come Kazakhstan, the Baltic states, Poland and Germany,” warned Zelensky, according to
Focus Online
, when asking for more arms deliveries.
Preventing worse things from happening in the Ukraine war: Two conclusions about the stalemate in the Ukraine war
The philosopher Jürgen Habermas made
a comparison with the Western Front of the First World War in 1916 in the
Süddeutsche Zeitung
. “Is the aim of our arms deliveries so that Ukraine cannot 'lose' the war, or are they rather aimed at a 'victory' over Russia?' he wrote in a guest article. Most recently, support remained at the minimum, i.e. “don't lose,” and is now increasingly missing, for example due to the blocked aid package in the US Congress.
Given the situation, one can, like Macron, set the goal of greater support - but Habermas, given limited material capacities, draws a different conclusion: "to start negotiations and look for a compromise solution that does not extend to the Russian side beyond the period before the start of the war territorial gain and yet allowed to save face”.
(lismah)