Merkel reveals NATO concerns for Ukraine in new memoir
Angela Merkel's latest book will be released on Tuesday. In it, the former Chancellor of Germany reveals why she blocked Ukraine's aspirations for a quick accession to NATO in 2008.
An excerpt from the former Chancellor's book was published on Thursday by the magazine "Die Zeit."
The book is titled "Freiheit" (Freedom). It's a collection of memoirs in which Angela Merkel writes about the crucial NATO summit in 2008, where they discussed granting Ukraine and Georgia candidate status for the Alliance.
She reveals that she blocked these plans because she was already concerned about a military response from Russia at that time.
Merkel acknowledged the strong aspiration of Central and Eastern European nations to join NATO promptly after the Cold War, driven by their desire to integrate into the Western community. She pointed out that Russia could not provide these countries with the key values they sought—freedom, self-determination, and prosperity.
Angela Merkel on "gross negligence"
The former Chancellor highlighted that NATO and its member states needed to carefully consider the potential implications of each phase of enlargement on the Alliance’s security, stability, and overall functionality. She stressed that adding a new member should enhance security not just for the incoming country but for NATO as a whole.
As Merkel wrote in her memoirs, discussing the status of the MAP (Membership Action Plan) for Ukraine and Georgia without analyzing Putin's point of view was gross negligence.
In her book, the former Chancellor argues that it was a misconception to believe that granting Ukraine and Georgia MAP status would shield them from Putin's aggression or serve as a deterrent strong enough to make him accept the situation without resistance.
Former Ukrainian foreign minister: Putin will shout and threaten, but nothing will happen
Russia will react to Ukraine's accession to NATO in the same way as Finland's recent accession—as assessed in a Wednesday interview with the Spanish newspaper "El Mundo" by Dmytro Kuleba, former head of Ukrainian diplomacy (he served as foreign minister of Ukraine from 2020 to September 2024; he was succeeded by Andriy Sybiha).
When Ukraine becomes a member of NATO, (Vladimir) Putin will react exactly as he did with Finland’s accession. He will shout, threaten, and nothing will happen, Kuleba believes.
Finland, along with Sweden, applied to join NATO in May 2022. It became a member of the Alliance at the beginning of April 2023.
According to Kuleba, thinking that Ukraine's accession to NATO will lead to a third world war is a mistake. "It's the opposite: inevitably, it will lead to it if Ukraine is outside NATO," the former minister declared.
He believes that Ukraine's failure will lead to the emigration of millions of citizens, and "the war will reach the European Union and NATO." Kuleba considers that problems in the region, observed, for example, on the Polish-Belarusian border, will then be "a hundred times greater."
Kuleba stated that a Russian victory would lead to the collapse of the Ukrainian state and the disintegration of Europe as a region of peace and prosperity. However, a Russian defeat would signify the end of its imperial ambitions, marking the conclusion of Russia as an empire while leaving the Russian state intact.
