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The United States is tentatively supporting a plan that would remove obstacles to Ukraine’s accession to NATO without setting a timetable for their admission. It’s a modest move that American officials hope will bridge divisions among member states over Kiev’s path to joining the transatlantic military alliance.
A senior US official said the Biden administration was “pleased” with a proposal by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg that would allow Ukraine to waive a formal candidacy process some have called for Nations, a move that could hasten its entry.
“This is a potential landing zone in this debate,” he said The official, like other officials, spoke on condition of anonymity to describe sensitive diplomatic discussions.
The NATO chief’s proposal, if accepted by all 31 members, would end a polarizing debate over what to offer President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government – which has called for Ukraine’s swift admission to NATO in its fight against Russian invaders – when the alliance’s leaders gather for a major summit next month in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Pentagon predicts Ukraine’s offensive will be protracted and “very violent.”
Under the plan, NATO would declare that Ukraine can bypass the alliance’s Membership Action Plan, a process whereby candidate countries receive assessments and advice as they take steps to meet NATO criteria on defense and other matters. This would place Ukraine in a category with new member Finland, which skipped this step. North Macedonia, on the other hand, participated in a two-decade MAP program before joining in 2020.
However, the proposal would still require reforms from Ukraine and, contrary to the wishes of NATO members in Eastern Europe, would not set a timeframe for Ukraine’s accession. US officials said the proposal goes beyond the preferred course of NATO countries, which fear Ukraine Membership could exacerbate the West’s confrontation with Russia. The senior The official declined to name those countries, but officials from France, Germany and the United States have urged caution in the past.
Biden’s ambassador to NATO, Julianne Smith, raised widespread concerns this month when she said Ukraine is unlikely to join while it is engaged in an existential struggle with Russia.
Consultations are underway to see if there is broader support for the plan, the official said. “This is a middle ground approach and we are in favor of an approach that can build consensus,” he said ahead of the summit. “So let’s test this proposal.”
Officials also said the government is trying to garner support for keeping Stoltenberg in office for another year. The former Norwegian prime minister has headed NATO since 2014 and is expected to step down in the autumn.
The double positions underscore the President Biden’s desire to maintain cohesion within NATO at a perilous moment for the Alliance and the military campaign in Ukraine that he is supporting. The strength of the pro-Ukrainian coalition will also be important to Biden as he demonstrates his foreign policy credentials in next year’s presidential campaign.
The struggle by Ukrainian troops to retake territory from Russia’s much larger military has raised questions in NATO capitals about the future of Western support — most notably the liberal flow of arms to Kiev and the sanctions Western nations have imposed on Moscow.
At a recent NATO meeting in Norway, attended by Foreign Minister Antony Blinken, the alliance’s foreign ministers voiced their support for doing more than just repeating the vague pledges of membership NATO said it first made to Ukraine in 2008 US officials.
Talks over Ukraine’s path to NATO are reaching a climax as speculation over the future leadership of the bloc intensifies and the Biden administration tries to avoid a potentially troublesome impasse over the selection of Stoltenberg’s successor.
Biden and NATO chief meet at a turbulent moment for the alliance
Months of behind-closed-door talks over choosing a new leader have highlighted regional and factional differences within the Alliance. Officials from NATO countries say some countries in Eastern Europe, including Poland and the Baltic states, have been pushing for a secretary-general from the alliance’s eastern flank, who is at the forefront of a showdown with Russia.
Others have argued it is time for a NATO leader from southern Europe, after a number of leaders from northern Europe. Many nations have called for the appointment of the Alliance’s first female Secretary-General; others say the leader must come from a country in the European Union or from a country that meets NATO’s defense spending benchmark of 2 percent of gross domestic product.
Leading candidates include Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, who welcomed Biden to the White House this month; Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas; and British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace. But both face resistance because they do not meet the criteria of other countries.
US officials said that while Biden has a positive stance on all frontrunners, the administration believes Stoltenberg’s extension would provide continuity at a time of turbulence in Europe and reassurance that differences among member states can be managed.
Biden welcomed Stoltenberg to the White House this week and praised his handling of the alliance’s response to the conflict, which has given NATO new meaning after two decades on the fringes of US-led counterinsurgency wars. “You did an incredible job,” said the President.
Although the process of selecting a NATO Secretary General – a position normally occupied by a European, while the Alliance’s top military role is occupied by an American – is based on consensus, given Washington’s enormous military contributions, special weight attaches to it.
Senior NATO diplomats said Stoltenberg had agreed with the Biden administration to an early public request to stay to avoid a potentially chaotic succession dispute that could overshadow the summit.
Turkey, for example, has long been skeptical of Danish candidates because it associates Denmark with cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed that have offended some Muslims, and it could seek to block Frederiksen’s appointment if she emerges as a consensus voter.
NATO headquarters in Brussels expect officials to “give it up” and look at the same candidate pool again in a year, a NATO diplomat said. Stoltenberg appeared uninterested in being seen as a backup candidate, preferring to forestall the talk with the support of the United States, the diplomat said.
Emily Rauhala in Brussels and Michael Birnbaum in Washington contributed to this report.
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