The former Secretary General of NATO offered Ukraine to join the military alliance, but without the territories occupied by Russia. According to him, such a partial accession would warn Russia that it cannot prevent Ukraine from joining NATO, he writes Guardian.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Secretary General of NATO from 2009 to 2014, will discuss in detail Ukraine’s place in the new European security architecture, including practical issues regarding Ukraine’s accession to NATO, with Andriy Yermak, adviser to the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi.

What conditions does NATO set for Ukraine’s entry into the alliance

Answering the question of which conditions Ukraine does not fulfill, the current NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg explained that this has two dimensions.

“One is the level or the extent to which we talk about the modernization of defense and security institutions, the consolidation of governance, including the fight against corruption,” Stoltenberg said. These aspects were considered at each NATO expansion, he emphasized.

On the other hand, Stoltenberg said that another dimension is that Ukraine is at war. “Allies agree that when there is a war, it is not the time to make Ukraine a full member of the Alliance,” he said.

Ukraine officially applied to join NATO last year after the Russian invasion.

Former NATO Secretary General Rasmussen proposes partial accession of Ukraine

Rasmussen insisted that Ukraine’s partial accession plan would not represent a freeze in the conflict, but instead a determination to put Russia on notice that it cannot prevent Ukraine from joining the Western Defense Alliance.

Next summer, the 75th NATO anniversary summit is to be held in Washington, and the question of Ukraine’s future membership will undoubtedly be a major topic.

Ukraine’s leadership was bitterly disappointed when, under pressure from the US and Germany, NATO issued a statement at its summit this year saying Ukraine would receive an invitation when conditions permitted, effectively rejecting Ukraine’s request for a clear calendar.

Instead, Ukraine’s relations with NATO are strengthened thanks to the creation of the Ukraine-NATO Council and the agreement that NATO members will provide Ukraine with bilateral security guarantees.

Rasmussen said that Ukraine’s accession to NATO cannot be postponed again next year.

“It is time to take the next step by inviting Ukraine to NATO. We need a new architecture of European security, where Ukraine is at the center of NATO,” he said.

Those advocating for Ukraine to join NATO run into the near impossibility of offering membership to a country at war, because NATO’s Article 5 on collective self-defense requires all NATO member states to actively defend a country in conflict .

What will happen to the war in Ukraine if the country joins NATO

Ukraine’s joining NATO now would actually be NATO’s message to Russia that it is going to start a war with Moscow.

If the territory conquered by Russia is excluded from NATO, the threat of a Russia-NATO conflict will decrease, Rasmussen claims.

Rasmussen denied that the move would freeze the conflict over the transfer of Ukrainian territory to Russia.

“The absolute validity of Article 5 guarantees would prevent Russia from launching attacks on Ukrainian territory within the framework of NATO.”

“For Article 5 to be credible, there must be a clear message to Russia that any violation of NATO territory will be met with a response.”

According to him, this proposal is somewhat similar to the introduction of a prohibited zone for Russia, so that it cannot fly over Ukrainian territory or launch missiles at Ukrainian cities.

This idea will be discussed by military specialists before the next NATO summit, in particular, how, in the context of a changing front, a reliable demarcation line can be drawn that would reflect Ukrainian territory, which is considered a member of NATO, and the territory occupied by Russia.

A rough precedent would be the entry of West Germany into NATO without East Germany

Rasmussen said there was a strong precedent since West Germany joined the alliance in 1955, and Article 5 covered its territory but not East Germany.

He named three main reasons why Ukraine should be offered membership. Ukraine in NATO will act as a bulwark against the still aggressive Russia. Second, he said, “We have to realize that gray areas are dangerous. Neutrality in the old world sense no longer exists. Gray areas become a temptation for Putin to attack.”

Finally, he claimed that the Ukrainian army is now the most strengthened army in Europe and will be an asset and an example for other European states.

According to him, a total of 25 countries, in addition to the G7 countries, are negotiating bilateral security agreements with Ukraine within the framework of the framework agreement called the Kyiv Security Pact, which is supposed to serve as a bridge to full NATO membership.