“Hit one point” – the ex-ambassador of Ukraine to the United States on methods of “joining NATO”
Until all NATO member countries stop being afraid of Russia, Kyiv will not see Ukraine joining the alliance.
Former Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States Valeriy Chaly stated this on the air of the Pryamyi TV channel, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“Three reasons why we are still not in NATO. The first is Russia. They blackmailed with this very issue, but now the pyramid has turned upside down, that is, the measure is the weakening of Russia, when it stopped blackmailing, a political decision can be made here. The second is the disunity of political forces in Ukraine. This has happened very often over the last 31 years, but now it feels like both President Zelensky and the former opposition (now, during the war, everyone is equal), politicians of different factions are speaking in parliament with one voice: membership in NATO. All people are for it! It would seem, what else is needed?
But it is necessary, firstly, that NATO members are not afraid of Russia, that Russia does not take advantage of some of the weak links in NATO itself. Well, countries that can play with this, like Hungary, but I think that by the time the decision is made there will no longer be such a game. Someone there will bargain for themselves, but not in such a way as to block it completely.
And also - so as not to give any arguments to our partners or their NATO allies that it is not the right time, that you should not rush yet. This is our NATO integration program, this is the issue of reforming the Security Service of Ukraine, the issue of law enforcement structures, this is the issue of mutual interaction - not only on the battlefield, but development, for example. Share sensitive information. And how can it be shared? Now the situation is better, but for several years it was terrible,” Chaly said.
According to him, in such an important matter, the authorities and the initiators of Ukraine’s accession to NATO to scatter their forces is “simply criminal.”
“So, we must remove all these questions for which they could say that we are not ready, but they can be resolved by adopting laws, specific decisions within six months, with political will.
And most importantly: our government should not scatter its efforts. The President says that our goal is NATO membership, the Deputy Prime Minister is very optimistic about the situation, We should not talk at the same time about some chimerical workaround options: give instructions to our ambassadors - both NATO membership and some kind of security guarantees, and national defense. It is necessary to hit one point all together. If everyone does this, then I know how to convince them. I won’t say, but I know exactly how to convince them at that moment,” the ex-ambassador assured.
English version :: Read in English "Hitting the same spot" – Ukraine's former ambassador to the US on methods for "joining NATO"