Stoltenberg suggests Ukraine could be granted NATO membership even with territories occupied by Russia
Stoltenberg suggests Ukraine could be granted NATO membership even with territories occupied by Russia
As of late August, Russia was in control of around 27% of Ukrainian territory, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
Ukraine could potentially join NATO even if parts of its territory remained occupied by Russia, the alliance's former Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in an interview on Oct. 4.
One of the main arguments against granting Ukraine membership at the current time is that NATO's Article 5 mutual defense clause would immediately draw the alliance into a direct war with Russia.
But speaking to the Financial Times, Stoltenberg suggested there could be ways to get around this if the Ukrainian territory considered part of NATO was "not necessarily the internationally recognized border."
Wouldn't Turkey or someone sour this?
But if it's actually possible, that's fascinating... if Ukraine can't push back quickly, wouldn't it "force" an end to the war? Russia would have a red line it absolutely can't cross, no hope of advancement, and likely just claim everything on the other side. Surely they wouldn't continue a grinding stalemate where Ukraine has a "safe zone" to operate out of.
If Ukraine does retain its ability to push back hard by the time this happens, and doesn't go for a truce, then that's especially peculiar. Walling off a part of their territory as actually untouchable seems like a massive strategic advantage for Ukraine.
I don't think there is any way Erdoğan would be on board with this idea.
Just because everyone would be drawn into war doesn't mean they can't join. It just makes it so everyone is less likely to agree. if russa attacks a nato member (the baltic states?) Nato will bring ukraine in quickly because then they are already at war an ukrain has too many useful places to launch an attack on russia from.
There has never been a clause about territorial integrity as a prerequisite for membership in the NATO treaties, that was just something made up by the Obama administration to appease Putin and get him to stop being paranoid about Georgia and Ukraine joining NATO.
To be frank though it's a good idea, because by inducting a country with contested borders you're basically just pushing the article 5 button. I know they're gonna try to work around that but it's probably gonna be messy as hell, and maybe even set a precedent for Ukraine losing territory not NATO-fied. .
A preexisting conflict cause might make sense,
Yeah, that's definitely true. I guess the goal with Ukraine nato membership is to prevent Russia from taking any more territory.
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MBFC: Least Biased - Credibility: High - Factual Reporting: High - United Kingdom
Wikipedia about this sourceKyiv Independent - News Source Context (Click to view Full Report)
Information for Kyiv Independent:
MBFC: Left-Center - Credibility: High - Factual Reporting: High - Ukraine
Wikipedia about this sourceOooh can we do Cyprus next then? What do you mean no?