Evgeniya Sokolenko09:38, 21.11.24

She acknowledged that the abandonment of the commitment to candidate status for Georgia and Ukraine was a “no” to the hopes of those countries.

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel blocked Ukraine’s rapid accession to NATO during her tenure because she feared a military response from Russian leader Vladimir Putin, according to her memoirs, excerpts of which are published by Die Zeit .

“I understood the desire of the Central and Eastern European countries to become NATO members as soon as possible,” she writes of the crucial NATO summit in Bucharest in 2008, when a plan to gain candidate status for Ukraine and Georgia was discussed.

According to Merkel, “the acceptance of a new member should bring more security not only to it, but also to NATO.” She also saw risks regarding the presence of the Russian Black Sea Fleet on the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea. The former chancellor explains that such unity with Russian military structures did not exist with any of the candidates for membership in the Alliance. At the same time, a minority of Ukrainians supported this idea.

“I considered it an illusion to assume that the status of a candidate for membership would protect Ukraine and Georgia from Putin’s aggression, that this status would have such a deterrent effect that Putin would passively accept the development of events. Could one then imagine that in an emergency, NATO member states would respond with military force – with equipment and troops – and intervene? Could one imagine that as Chancellor I would ask the German Bundestag for such a mandate for our Bundeswehr and receive the support of the majority?” she writes in her book.

As a result, Merkel notes, a compromise was reached, according to which none of the countries in question received protection from the Alliance.

“The fact that Georgia and Ukraine did not receive the commitment to candidate status was a ‘no’ to their hopes for them. The fact that NATO also offered them a common promise of membership was a ‘yes’ to NATO membership for both countries and a declaration of war for Putin,” the former chancellor concluded.

Ukraine’s accession to NATO – what is known

UNIAN reported earlier that seven countries are against inviting Ukraine to NATO . Among them, in particular, Germany, the United States of America and Hungary. Although the President’s Office soon denied this information .

According to the US Permanent Representative to NATO in the Biden administration, Julianne Smith, the Alliance has not yet reached the point where it can extend an invitation to Ukraine .

Recently, the current German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke out against inviting Ukraine to NATO “right now”.

Former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba is convinced that there is currently not a single objective argument why Ukraine should not be invited to join NATO .

(C)UNIAN 2024