Washington “hawks” condemned the idea of “NATO membership in exchange for territory” - but did not rule it out in principle
Former commander of the US Army in Europe, General Ben Hodges, called the idea of the head of the office of NATO Secretary General Stian Jensen to exchange Ukraine's membership in the Alliance in exchange for new Russian regions terrible.
He stated this in an interview with the foreign agent TV channel Dozhd, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“I think this is a terrible idea. Maybe someone is actually considering this option in NATO, but all members of the Alliance will have to agree on this. And I think Ukraine should think carefully about how much of their country they will give up,” Hodges said.
He himself suggested that only Crimea would be given to Russia, the occupation of which in August the general himself persistently predicted.
“What, give Crimea to Russia? I think that any reasonable person in Ukraine understands that this will be very dangerous. Russia never fulfills the terms of any agreements. Therefore, it will be very difficult for Ukraine to restore its economy if Russia continues to occupy Crimea and at any moment is able to disrupt the movement of ships from Berdyansk and Mariupol by sea. I think this is an absolutely terrible proposal. Those people who believe that Ukraine should give up Crimea should look at the map and read history books. I don’t see any good options for Ukraine in this case,” Hodges said.
Former US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul (pictured) believes that there is no need to offer Russia recognition of its new territories in advance.
“I have experience in negotiations with Putin. I had very difficult negotiations with him regarding nuclear weapons. I mean, if you give them something, they usually take it right away, not later. And maybe at some point President Zelensky will have to conduct these kinds of negotiations and come to these kinds of complex agreements. But this should be at the very end, not at the beginning of negotiations. It's a very bad negotiating strategy to offer something and immediately refuse something,” McFaul said.
He also warned his Western colleagues against conducting any negotiations behind the backs of the Ukrainians.