By Hugues Maillot
Posted 2 hours ago, updated 58 minutes ago
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Former NATO chief Anders Rasmussen said some countries like Poland might take the plunge and send troops to Ukraine if security guarantees aren’t found at the next summit in Vilnius in July.
It has been a red line since the beginning of the conflict: NATO cannot afford to officially go to war alongside Ukraine without triggering a generalization of the conflict. Nor is there the obligation to Kiev provided for in Article 5 of the treaty, which enshrines the principle of “collective defence” since Ukraine is not part of the alliance. However, some of its members may be tempted to act independently, believes former Secretary-General and former Danish Prime Minister Anders Rasmussen.
To our Guardian colleagues: The former statesman-turned-adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy does not rule out the possibility that several countries could send troops if NATO does not provide concrete assistance to Ukraine at the planned Vilnius summit 11.- 12. July. These nations are demanding concrete security guarantees and an acceleration of the integration process into NATO and the EU for the country attacked by Russia.
Poland and the Baltic States ready to send troops?
“If NATO cannot agree on a clear path for Ukraine, there is an obvious likelihood that some countries will act individually,” said the alliance’s Secretary General from 2009 to 2014. We know that Poland is very interested in concrete To take measures aid to Ukraine, so I would not rule out that, accompanied by the Baltic countries, it would intervene more frontally, for example, by sending ground troops.
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Those countries could decide to “assemble a coalition of the willing” to support neighboring Ukraine, Rasmussen said. “Poles believe that Western Europe has not listened to their warnings about the Russian threat in recent years,” warns the former Danish prime minister. They could therefore choose to play their own cards.
Guest of the Brussels Sprouts podcast organized by the Center for a New American Security, current NATO chief Jean Stoltenberg said the Vilnius summit will send a strong signal of support for Ukraine. Security guarantees are on the agenda, he said, but NATO can usually only grant them to full members…
Many guarantees requested
Eastern countries will certainly not accept this refrain, Rasmussen said. They are demanding written security guarantees, including sharing intelligence, training Ukrainian soldiers, improving ammunition production, NATO interoperability and adequate weapon supplies. Beyond these guarantees, “a group of unconditional allies from Central and Eastern Europe are demanding a clear path for Ukraine towards NATO membership.”
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It is therefore to be expected that certain countries in the alliance will exert particular pressure at the Vilnius summit. As for NATO membership, Rasmussen says they’re still willing to wait until the Washington summit in 2024.
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