Status: 10.02.2022 20:03
Ukraine applied for accelerated NATO membership on Friday. Two days later, nine NATO countries stand in a joint declaration and call for Ukraine’s inclusion – but without naming a date.
Nine European NATO countries voted in favor of Ukraine joining the military alliance. They also called on the remaining 21 member states to “significantly” increase their military aid to the attacked country, according to a brief joint statement. They were signed by the heads of state and government of the three Baltic countries, Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Montenegro and North Macedonia. Russia must immediately withdraw from all occupied Ukrainian territories.
On Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for his country’s accelerated membership of NATO. He was reacting to Russia’s annexation of Ukrainian territories, which Russian President Vladimir Putin also signed on Friday.
No schedule provided
The Ukrainian application for NATO currently has no chance of success because one of the conditions is that a candidate state must not have any active border conflicts. Furthermore, NATO wants to avoid a direct conflict with Russia, which is why the US and Germany are currently skeptical of Ukraine joining.
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Friday: “We continue to support Ukraine’s right to self-defence, including with heavy weapons, but we are doing everything we can to ensure that other countries and NATO are not dragged into this war”. US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the accession process must resume at another time.
The joint statement by the nine members from Eastern and Southeastern Europe said they strongly supported the decision of the 2008 NATO summit. At that time, summit participants welcomed Ukraine and Georgia’s membership efforts, but did not set a timetable for accession. The current declaration by the nine NATO countries also does not mention a deadline.