NATO ‘ignoring’ Ukrainian application – FT
NATO members could offer Ukraine an additional €250 million ($273 million) a year in an effort to quell discontent about the lack of a specific timeframe for Kiev to join the US-led military bloc, the Financial Times has reported. Officials are said to be concerned that offering Ukraine membership now may benefit Russia and escalate the conflict with its neighbor.
A NATO diplomat who spoke to the FT on condition of anonymity complained that the bloc was “just ignoring” the Ukrainian application to join the alliance. Another stated that “we won’t be able to offer them membership anytime soon. But we can talk about closer relations between NATO and Ukraine.”
The reluctance is partially due to concerns that a formal accession roadmap would “help [Russian President Vladimir Putin] depict the war as a conflict between Moscow and NATO,” the article claimed. An escalation of hostilities in Ukraine following such a move is another scenario that worries member states, the FT claimed.
Moscow cited NATO’s creeping expansion into Ukraine and the growing threat to Russia’s national security as one of the key reasons for launching its military operation in February 2022.
The FT report came ahead of a two-day summit of NATO foreign ministers which begins on Tuesday at the organization’s headquarters in Brussels. Among the proposals they will discuss is the doubling of aid through the Comprehensive Assistance Package for Ukraine, a NATO fund launched in 2016.
The potential financial pledges are aimed at “mollifying irritation in Kiev at widespread unwillingness within the alliance” to discuss Ukraine’s bid, the British newspaper stated.
NATO pledged back in 2008 that it would eventually accept Ukraine, but has refused to set any deadline. Kiev enshrined its intention to become part of the alliance in its constitution in 2019, and formally applied for membership last September. The Ukrainian government is aggrieved at the current situation, especially when compared to how its bid to join the EU was treated, the FT claimed.
“We don’t want just a declaration about open-door policies,” a senior official in the office of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said of this week’s NATO ministerial meeting. “We want to get something with concrete guarantees.”
