Reuters: “The positive of the NATO summit is practical decisions, not rhetoric about membership”
11 July 2024 13:38
EXCLUSIVE
A NATO summit was held in Washington, D.C., at which the leaders of the Alliance’s member states unanimously supported the decision on Ukraine’s future accession. Now, NATO officials are trying to pass this off as progress compared to last year’s Vilnius Declaration.
The key point of the current communiqué was the statement that “Ukraine’s full membership in NATO has no alternative”.
Was this year’s NATO summit really a step forward, or are they trying to sell us another mantra, this time about “inevitability” and “bridge”? "Komersant Ukrainian" asked political scientist Igor Reiterovich about this.
The expert noted that the results of the summit are quite acceptable for Ukraine.
“Overall, this summit is definitely not a failure for Ukraine. From a political point of view, we got the minimum, certainly not the wording we would have liked, but, on the other hand, it is better than it could have been,”
– says the political scientist.
The expert emphasised the practical value of the summit for Ukraine in terms of the decisions taken on current assistance:
“But in terms of the practical component, I think the summit is very successful for Ukraine. There are air defence systems, aircraft, and, as I understand it, an increase in the number of these aircraft, judging by the statements, and the approval of 40 billion that NATO will allocate to Ukraine for many years to support our Armed Forces.”
Therefore, Reiterowicz believes that Ukraine has achieved the best possible result, given the conditions in which we found ourselves.
“I don’t think we could have expected anything more, because some countries have already exceeded, let’s say, expectations of what they could offer. And here we have chosen the maximum,”
– the expert emphasised.
An important aspect of the summit was NATO’s principled stance on Russia, the political analyst believes.
“It is symbolic that the summit did not follow Russia’s lead and did not make decisions “not to irritate Russia”. Still, things are called what they are, and this is a very important point,”
– he stressed.
Summing up the results of the summit, Igor Reiterovich noted that it can be assessed positively, especially if the partners promptly provide Ukraine with the promised assistance.
“Festival of security agreements”
Since Ukraine is not yet expected to join NATO, the “Festival of Security Agreements with Ukraine” has gained momentum, with Western countries guaranteeing our security under bilateral agreements such as the Budapest Memorandum.
Ukraine has already signed 22 such agreements with the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Denmark, Italy, Canada, the Netherlands, Finland, Latvia, Spain, Belgium, Portugal, Sweden, Iceland, Norway, Japan, the United States, the European Union, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland and Luxembourg.
Under these agreements, these states pledge to support Ukraine in the face of the Russian threat with finance, weapons and humanitarian aid.
Poland may be among the next signatories, as it is known that the government is in talks with this country.
