Sputnik asked Xavier Moreau, an expert on Ukraine and the founder of Stratpol think tank, about the resons why NATO is in no hurry to take Ukraine in.
“NATO has remaineds divided [on the issue of Ukraine’s membership] for quite some time now. Germany and France said that they didn’t want Ukraine in NATO already during the first ‘Orange Revolution’ of 2004, and things haven’t changed ever since. This is just another Maidan lie because Ukraine’s membership of in either the EU or NATO has never been considered,” Moreau said.
He described the situation in Donbass as a major hurdle to in regards to Ukraine’s joining NATO.
“This is exactly what Ukraine’s first president Leonid Kravchuk has in mind when he says that Ukraine will be better off giving up on Crimea and parts of Donbass as it would help it join NATO. The thing is that a country with territorial problems simply can’t become a NATO member,” Xavier Moreau said.
“Georgia faces the same problem. The only way it can join NATO is to stop trying to bring back Abkhazia and South Ossetia. As for Ukraine, it has maximum of what NATO can give it now: military assistance, above all from the US and Canada and, unfortunately, also from France, Germany and Poland. In any case, no one wants to pay more, especially to finance the war in Ukraine.”
Ukraine is now in a situation where it has alienated Russia while, at the same time, waiting for the EU and NATO to lend it a hand, which they are not prepared to do.
“The chances of the country breaking up into three parts – Central Ukraine, Western Ukraine and the so-called Novorossia, a territory between Odessa and Kharkov, are pretty high, so Ukraine’s main priority should be to save what can still be saved, and this will not be done as part of a military alliance with anyone,” Moreau said.
“Ukraine now is the weak spot of Europe creating trouble for everyone,” he added.
Never miss a story again — sign up to our Telegram channel and we'll keep you up to speed!
