Merkel reveals NATO caution: Ukraine's uncertain future
Angela Merkel, in her book, explains why she blocked Ukraine's accession to NATO. She feared Russian aggression. Excerpts from the memoir were published by "Die Zeit."
In her book "Freiheit" (Eng. "Freedom"), Angela Merkel describes the crucial NATO summit of 2008, where discussions were held about granting Ukraine and Georgia candidate status for the Alliance.
"I understood (their) desire... to become members of NATO as quickly as possible, because they wanted to be part of the Western community after the end of the Cold War. NATO had, however, to consider the effect of each potential new member on its own security, stability and ability to function," wrote the former chancellor.
Merkel emphasized that NATO had to evaluate the effects of enlargement for the Alliance, its security, and stability. "The admission of a new member should not only bring (the member) more security, but also NATO," she noted. The former chancellor considered discussing the MAP status (Membership Action Plan) for Ukraine and Georgia without considering Putin's perspective a glaring oversight.
Merkel believed it was an "illusion" to assume that MAP status "would have protected Ukraine and Georgia from Putin's aggression, that this status would have had such a deterrent effect that Putin would have accepted … without doing anything". "The fact that Georgia and Ukraine did not receive a MAP commitment was a 'no' to their aspirations. However, NATO's promise of future membership for these countries was a 'yes' for Putin, interpreted as a declaration of war," admitted the former chancellor.
Excerpts from Merkel's memoirs were published by "Die Zeit" magazine. In them, the former chancellor explains her concerns about military aggression from Russia, which influenced her decisions regarding Ukraine and Georgia.
Ukraine in NATO?
Russia will react to Ukraine joining NATO in the same way as it did with Finland's recent accession, said former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in a Wednesday interview with the Spanish newspaper "El Mundo." Finland, along with Sweden, applied to join NATO in May 2022 and became a member at the beginning of April of the following year.
– When Ukraine becomes a NATO member, (Vladimir) Putin will react exactly as he did with Finland’s accession. He will yell, he will threaten, and nothing will happen – believes Kuleba.
According to Kuleba, the assumption that Ukraine's accession to NATO would lead to World War III is incorrect. – It's the opposite: inevitably, it will lead to it if Ukraine is outside NATO – declared the former minister.
In his view, Ukraine's failure would result in the emigration of many millions of citizens, and "the war would reach the European Union and NATO." In Kuleba’s conviction, the problems in the region, observed, for example, at the Polish-Belarusian border, will be "a hundred times greater" in this case.
