Lithuania, Latvia, Poland favor MAP for Ukraine’s NATO accession

The governments of Lithuania and Latvia separately
spoke out in favor of Ukraine receiving a NATO Membership Action Plan. On April
7, Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielus Landsbergis called for Lithuania to
approach NATO members to consider the MAP for Ukraine. Lithuanian online media
delfi.lt writes that Landsbergis made the statement during a press conference,
and claimed that a MAP would be a strong signal to Russia regarding Ukraine’s
choice of a Euro-Atlantic direction.

On April 8, Latvian foreign minister Edgars Rinkevics,
speaking on Latvian TV, supported the idea. Rinkevics pointed to the build up
of Russian troops along the Ukrainian border, and said that offering a MAP
would send a signal that Ukraine will not be left “without support”.

Also on April 8, Poland’s foreign affairs minister
Zbigniew Rau arrived in Kyiv for discussions with Ukraine’s foreign affairs
minister Dmytro Kuleba. The two ministers discussed recent Russian aggression,
the strengthening of the tripartite Lublin Triangle (with Lithuania) and the
NATO MAP. Rau stated that Poland also supports offering an MAP as well as EU
succession for Ukraine.

James Hydzik: The outpouring
of support from this block of NATO’s partners is timely. It will take more than
this, though, as NATO Military Committee chairman Stuart Peach made clear during his visit on April 6-7.
While noting the progress made in reforming its military thus far, Peach
emphasized that further work is to be done. The U.S., too, will not miss the
opportunity to squeeze more reforms out of the Ukrainian government in the
process. Also, given the new referendum law signed by President Zelensky, a
nation-wide vote on the matter is assured. Only time will tell if the Ukrainian
government can nurture pro-NATO sentiment to the point that a referendum
validating those reforms can be assured.