Germany, at the next NATO summit in Vilnius (to be held on July 11 and 12), will plead for the postponement of Ukraine’s entry into the defense alliance, reported The Daily Telegraph, citing a NATO source. According to the source, Berlin fears a military conflict with Russia.
“Berlin is reserved on the prospect of an immediate offer (to Ukraine) of membership (in NATO),” a source told the newspaper.
According to him, Germany is in favor of drawing up security guarantees for Ukraine that would “essentially block the country’s membership” of the alliance.
“Berlin does not want (Russian President) Vladimir Putin to potentially test Article 5 (of the NATO Collective Defense Charter),” an unnamed source said.
Article 5 of the NATO Charter providesthat an attack on any country is equivalent to an attack on all members of the alliance. According to this article, an attack on a NATO country will be repelled by all states of this military bloc. For the first and so far only time, NATO invoked Article 5 after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
Dissatisfaction with Germany’s position on the part of Kiev on the issue of the country’s support in the clash with Russia was reflected in a verbal contest on social networks on Saturday. Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Andriy Melnyk, a former Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, responded harshly to German MP Ralf Stegner, who opposed the US decision to supply Ukraine with cluster munitions.
“Go to hell with your advice, Mr. Stegner and the others. You don’t even have a clue what you’re talking about. Have you been in Ukraine during the 500 days of war? Have you felt the suffering of people? Otherwise stay on your Biedermeier couch,” Melnik tweeted.
Stegner believes that those who “act in the name of international order and values” will not supply weapons such as cluster munitions.
Mindaugas Kulbis / AP
The United States is also afraid of a confrontation with Russia
Earlier this week, US President Joe Biden also expressed concern that Ukraine’s possible entry into NATO before the end of the current armed conflict threatens NATO with a direct confrontation with the Russia.
“We will be at war with Russia if that happens,” Biden said, referring to a scenario in which Ukraine joins NATO while at odds with Russia.
At the same time, Biden did not rule out the possibility of Ukraine joining NATO at a later date – according to him, the alliance is pursuing an “open door policy”. However, joining NATO requires meeting certain conditions — “from democratization to a whole host of other issues,” Biden recalled.
For his part, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan believes that Ukraine “deserves without a doubt” to be a member of NATO. Erdogan said this following the results of July 8 talks in Istanbul with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Zelenskyy at the NATO summit in Vilnius
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at a press conference on July 7 declaredthat Zelenskyy will participate in the first meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Council, which will be held on the sidelines of the Vilnius summit on July 11-12.
The Ukrainian side has not yet officially announced Zelenskyy’s intention to attend the summit in the Lithuanian capital.
At the end of June, the office of the Ukrainian president declared that Zelenskyy would not attend the NATO summit in Vilnius if the leaders of the countries of the alliance “did not show courage” on the issue of NATO membership. ‘Ukraine.
In the Ukraine-NATO Council, Kiev will be on an equal footing with the members of the alliance, said Stoltenberg in June, announcing that the alliance had begun the creation of this Council.
Then the NATO Secretary General noted that all NATO countries agree that Ukraine should become a member of the alliance. However, the Vilnius summit will not discuss Ukraine’s invitation to the alliance, only how to “bring Ukraine closer to NATO”, Stoltenberg said at the time.
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