Does Zelensky backtrack on Ukraine in NATO?
Zelensky said that "Ukraine realizes that it is not in NATO" and that it must recognize that it cannot enter, at present. All the details
Today Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke in video link with the leaders of the Joint Expeditionary Force, the expeditionary force led by the United Kingdom and made up of Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway. Many of the members are also members of NATO.
THE DEMAND OF ZELENSKY
In his speech, Zelensky reiterated the request for a NATO no-fly zone over Ukraine: that is, a no-fly zone for Russian military aircraft on Ukrainian territory, guaranteed by NATO.
However, it is extremely difficult for his request to be accepted, because the establishment of a no-fly zone by NATO would in fact amount to an act of war against Russia, while the Atlantic alliance has always repeated that it has no intention of clash with Moscow.
HELP YOURSELF HELP US
Zelensky, then, tried to present the war in Ukraine as something bigger, which concerns not only his country but the security of NATO countries and, above all, of Europe. He said that “we are all targets of Russia […], so I would like you to help each other by helping us”.
“We can still [… ] stop the destruction of democracy and do it now on our land, otherwise [the Russians will come to you too”. Russian aggression – which, in addition to Ukraine, also recently invaded Georgia in 2008 – scares especially the Baltic countries and those of Eastern Europe, starting with Poland.
Zelensky also stated that NATO is "the strongest alliance in the world" but "some of the members of this alliance have been mesmerized by Russian aggression".
UKRAINE IN BORN
Ukraine, a former Soviet territory, is not a member of NATO but in 2008, with the Bucharest agreements, the Atlantic alliance promised it the opportunity to join it. Since then, however, nothing has been done about that promise – already vague at the time. Even the American president Joe Biden, while defending the principle for Kiev to decide on its own placement in the world, spoke of it with great caution , making it clear that he is not interested in proceeding in this direction.
In 2019, Ukraine adopted a constitutional amendment to enshrine its tendency to join NATO.
THE WORDS OF ZELENSKY
Regarding Kiev's entry into the Atlantic alliance, Zelensky said in a recent interview with ABC News : “I have calmed down on this question for a long time, when we realized that NATO is not ready to accept Ukraine. The alliance is afraid of controversial things ”, because Russia is strongly opposed. He added that he does not want to be the president of a country "that begs something on its knees".
More recently, Zelensky specified that “Ukraine realizes that it is not in NATO. We have heard about open doors for years, but we have heard that we cannot enter, and we must recognize it ”.
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START MAGAZINE INSIGHTS ON UKRAINE AND NATO:
When Zelensky did not invoke NATO. Limes analysis of 2020
This is how the Constitution of Ukraine looks at NATO
Here's how NATO could defend Ukraine
Is the Russian attack on the Yavoriv base a provocation against NATO?
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/ucraina-nato-zelensky/ on Tue, 15 Mar 2022 15:15:43 +0000.