14 years on, NATO to renew a vow to Ukraine

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BUCHAREST (AP) — NATO returns on Tuesday to the scene of one of its most
controversial decisions, intent on repeating its vow that Ukraine — now
suffering through the 10th month of a war against Russia — will join the
world’s biggest military alliance one day.

NATO foreign ministers will gather for two days at the Palace of the
Parliament in the Romanian capital Bucharest. It was there in April 2008
that U.S. President George W. Bush persuaded his allies to open NATO’s
door to Ukraine and Georgia, over vehement Russian objections.

“NATO welcomes Ukraine’s and Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations for
membership in NATO. We agreed today that these countries will become
members of NATO,” the leaders said in a statement. Russian President
Vladimir Putin, who was at the summit, described this as “a direct threat”
to Russia’s security.

About four months later, Russian forces invaded Georgia.

Some experts describe the decision in Bucharest as a massive error that
left Russia feeling cornered by a seemingly ever-expanding NATO. NATO
counters that it doesn’t pressgang countries into joining, and that some
requested membership to seek protection from Russia — as Finland and
Sweden are doing now.

More than 14 years on, NATO will pledge this week to support Ukraine
long-term as it defends itself against Russian aerial, missile and ground
attacks — many of which have struck power grids and other civilian
infrastructure, depriving millions of people of electricity and heating.

“NATO will continue to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes. We will
not back down,” the organization’s top civilian official,
Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, vowed last week.

North Macedonia and Montenegro have joined the U.S.-led organization in
recent years. With this, Stoltenberg said, “we have demonstrated that
NATO’s door is open and that it is for NATO allies and aspirant countries
to decide on membership. This is also the message to Ukraine.”

This gathering in Bucharest is likely to see NATO make fresh pledges of
non-lethal support to Ukraine: fuel, electricity generators, medical
supplies, winter equipment and drone jamming devices.

Individual allies are also likely to announce fresh supplies of military
equipment for Ukraine — chiefly the air defense systems that Kyiv so
desperately seeks to protect its skies. NATO as an organization will not
offer such supplies, to avoid being dragged into a wider war with
nuclear-armed Russia.

But the ministers, along with their Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba,
will also look further afield.

“Over the longer term we will help Ukraine transition from Soviet-era
equipment to modern NATO standards, doctrine and training,” Stoltenberg
said. This will not only improve Ukraine’s armed forces and help them to
better integrate, it will also meet some of the conditions for membership.

That said, Ukraine will not join NATO anytime soon. With the Crimean
Peninsula annexed, and Russian troops and pro-Moscow separatists holding
parts of the south and east, it’s not clear what Ukraine’s borders would
even look like.

Many of the 30 allies believe the focus now must be uniquely on defeating
Russia.

But even as economic pressure — high electricity and gas prices, plus
inflation, all exacerbated by the war — mounts on many allies, Stoltenberg
would not press Ukraine to enter into peace talks, and indeed NATO and
European diplomats say that Putin does not appear willing to come to the
table.

“Most wars end with negotiations,” he said. “But what happens at the
negotiating table depends on what happens on the battlefield. Therefore,
the best way to increase the chances for a peaceful solution is to support
Ukraine.”

The foreign ministers of Bosnia, Georgia and Moldova — three partners that
NATO says are under increasing Russian pressure — will also be in
Bucharest. Stoltenberg said NATO would “take further steps to help them
protect their independence, and strengthen their ability to defend
themselves.

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https://www.columbian.com/news/2022/nov/28/14-years-on-nato-to-renew-a-vow-to-ukraine/