“Ukraine should criticise Germany less because of its position on NATO” – Dmytro Snegirev
25 October 2024 12:03
EXCLUSIVE
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has explicitly stated that Germany is against sending Ukraine an invitation to join NATO “right now”, before the war ends. "Komersant Ukrainian" asked military expert and co-chairman of the civil initiative ‘Pravova Sprava’ Dmitry Snegirev to comment on this position.
Snegiryov emphasises that we should not focus all our attention on Germany’s position. After all, there are countries in the Alliance with a tougher stance towards Ukraine.
“The decision to grant membership or join NATO is made collectively. All 32 member states must vote unanimously. At the moment, we see that there are certain countries with an openly pro-Russian orientation – Slovakia, Hungary – which, together with Germany, Spain and other countries, have clearly stated that they may veto the decision to expand NATO at the expense of Ukraine,” the expert explains.
Based on this, the expert suggests not to criticise Germany too harshly, as it deserves it less than other states opposed to Ukraine’s accession. We should not forget that Germany is a strategic partner of Ukraine, he says.
“Germany is Ukraine’s second largest military, technical and macroeconomic partner in terms of military and economic assistance. It makes no sense to criticise its position when there is an openly pro-Russian position of Slovakia and Hungary. The rhetoric about Scholz should be restrained, especially given the difficult domestic political situation in the country,”
– emphasises Snegirev.
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The expert also draws attention to the legal aspects of joining NATO during the war. According to him, there are objective reasons for the impossibility of urgent accession, despite any political issues:
“At the time of full-scale hostilities, there is no question of joining NATO, it is prohibited by the Alliance’s charter. Secondly, even the issue of Article 5, namely collective security, has not been resolved. Even if there is a positive decision and all NATO members vote to expand the North Atlantic Alliance at the expense of Ukraine, on what territory of Ukraine will this Article 5 apply?”
Snegirev believes that historical parallels with the experience of Germany itself, when part of a country divided by borders was admitted to NATO, are inappropriate.
“Compared to the German experience of Germany’s accession to NATO in the presence of the GDR, these are different situations. There were no active hostilities then, and Germany’s accession to NATO itself was a safeguard against the expansion of Soviet influence. Now there is a war going on, and the position of European countries is quite pragmatic,”
– says the expert.
In his opinion, it is now crucial to maintain constructive relations with German partners. After all, Ukraine’s criticism of Scholz could increase anti-Ukrainian sentiment in Germany itself.
“And then we risk losing not only the prospect of joining NATO, but also the military and technical support from this country, which we desperately need,”
– concludes Snegirev.
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