Ihor Reiterovych: Changing situation on the frontline is one of the keys to accelerating NATO membership
23 October 2024 08:57
Despite recent high-profile statements by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, including one that mentioned nuclear weapons, there have been no dramatic changes in the issue of Ukraine’s accelerated accession to NATO. They could not have happened, as the Alliance is used to responding not to statements but to the work done. Political analyst Igor Reiterovich told Komersant ukrainskyi
“I think that everything has remained in the same position as before, no new decisions have been made, and, in fact, statements cannot speed up this process. It can be accelerated by changes in the situation on the battlefield and, for example, Ukraine’s success in reforms that are key to integration into the Alliance. NATO simply does not pay attention to mere statements, having extensive experience in accession and enlargement. In this context, talk, don’t talk, if you don’t have arguments, it won’t work,”
– Reiterovich said.
At the same time, the political analyst believes that the possibility of Ukraine joining NATO without a full return to the 1991 borders, i.e. with the temporarily occupied territories, still exists. At least formally.
“NATO accepts a country as a whole, but certain territories of that country may be subject to territorial disputes. This is in legal terms. For example, there are countries in NATO that have territorial disputes with another country. The United States, for example, has territorial disputes with Canada. It is clear that they are not of the same format as ours with Russia, but formally they exist,”
– says the expert.
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The problem is, he adds, that there is currently no precedent for NATO to accept a country in a situation similar to ours. That is, Ukraine’s accession to the Alliance, if it happens, will be such a precedent.
“Potentially, this is a possible story, but again, after the hot phase of the war is over.”
– Ihor Reuterovych summed up.
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“Either Ukraine will have nuclear weapons, and this is our defence. Or we have to have some kind of alliance. Apart from NATO, we do not know any effective alliances today… That is why we choose NATO, not nuclear weapons,”
– the president said.
After that, Bild published the alleged words of an anonymous Ukrainian official that Ukraine is ready to start developing nuclear weapons and it will take several weeks to create the first bomb.
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