Photo: Spencer Platt / Getty Images
The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, announced this Friday that his country is formally applying to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), using an accelerated accession mechanism.
The petition was made on the same day that Vladimir Putin’s government announced the annexation to the Russian Federation of four regions of Ukraine that Russian troops had conquered since the beginning of the war in February this year.
“We are taking our decisive step by signing Ukraine’s application for accelerated entry in NATO”, Zelensky said in a statement in which he stressed that his country had already advanced on its path towards integration into that organization by having demonstrated compatibility with the standards of the Atlantic alliance.
“Are real [the standards] for Ukraine, real on the battlefield and in all aspects of our interaction. We trust each other, we protect each other. This is an alliance, de facto. Today, Ukraine is applying to do so de jure “, he pointed out.
The Ukrainian president also warned Moscow that “he is going to liberate all the territories of Ukraine.”
“We are confident, although it will not be easy, that we will achieve it. We have already made significant progress in the east and we are going to follow that path, “said Zelensky in a message sent through social networks.
The accelerated entry mechanism is a procedure that allows a country to join NATO without the need to previously have a membership action plan (MAP), which is a program through which that organization provides individualized support and advice to each country to guide them in the process of adapting to the alliance’s standards.
Although this is the regular procedure to enter , Zelensky pointed out that recently Finland and Sweden used an accelerated entry mechanism and that it was fair that Ukraine could do the same.
Finland and Sweden managed to join NATO just a few months after both countries, prompted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, will take the decision to request their joining the alliance.
From resignation to petition
Although the Joining NATO has been an aspiration of Ukraine for several years and has been inscribed in the country’s Constitution since 2022, Putin has fiercely opposed this possibility, pointing out that it represents an existential threat to Russia.
In fact, before invading Ukraine in February this year, Moscow demanded legal guarantees that Kyiv would never would be admitted to that military alliance led by the United States.
Subsequently, many analysts have considered that demand as one of several pretexts used by Russia to invade Ukraine .
After the start of this armed aggression ordered by Putin, Zelensky seemed to give up the possibility of joining NATO and pointed out that his country had to accept that it might never could be integrated into that alliance.
At that time, some analysts considered that it was a placating gesture to open the door to a possible agreement of peace with Moscow.
However, Russia’s decision to annex this Friday the Ukrainian territory that its troops have conquered in the Donetsk regions , Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia -after holding referendums considered fraudulent by the international community- seems to have prompted Zelensky to change his position.
“Must belong to NATO”
On the other hand, spokespersons for the governments of the United States and Canada, both members of NATO, stated that they agreed according to income Ukraine to the organization.
The US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, although he avoided answering questions about whether his country would support the entry accelerated Ukraine, did not rule out the possible entry into the alliance.
“I repeat that the doors of NATO are still open for Ukraine. There is a well-known process for countries that want to join NATO,” said the head of US diplomacy during a press conference this Friday.
Blinken clarified that the accelerated entry processes, as happened with Sweden and Finland recently, occurred because both countries had been NATO partners for several years.
“I think that is what explains the speed of the entry process for Sweden and Finland”, said the Secretary of State.
However, Canadian Foreign Minister Mélany Joly pointed out that “Ukraine should be part of NATO”.
“This has been our position for more than a decade and we firmly believe in the open door doctrine ”, he said Canadian minister.
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