Russia demands guarantee from NATO that it will never accept Ukraine

The Russian government demands a “100% guarantee that no one would think about Ukraine joining NATO,” said Dmitry Peskov, the spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, as reported by the BBC on Nov. 19. Such guarantees have not been offered and the situation has made Moscow nervous, prompting the Russian government to employ measures of caution. “We would like to hear that NATO will stop approaching Russia’s borders and stop its attempts to break the balance of forces,” he said.

NATO officials said they were surprised by the Russian government’s guarantee demand, said Robert Pszczel, the head of the NATO information office in Moscow, told the Interfax news agency on Nov. 19. Ukraine is currently not a candidate for NATO membership and such a decision would only be made by NATO member-states, he said.

Later that day, NATO Secretary General Spokeswoman Oana Lungescu pointed out to reporters in Brussels that Ukraine made the decision in 2010 to adopt a non-bloc status as part of its foreign policy, which hasn’t change. “Such as statement from the Russian spokesman is surprising,” she said, as reported by Interfax. “It’s out of touch with reality and runs counter to international agreements signed by the Russian Federation,” she said, referring to documents in which Russia agreed to the right of each country to independently reach decisions ensuring their own security.

Zenon Zawada: The unacceptability of Ukraine’s integration into NATO is among the key foreign policy positions of the Putin government and Peskov’s statement is among the few legitimate attempts to reach some compromise with the West. Yet we believe the Russian government shouldn’t be concerned as few of NATO’s member-states have the intention of accepting Ukraine into their organization. Even Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said NATO membership is premature for the nation, in an interview published on Nov. 17 by Germany’s Bild.

In our view, Russia should be more concerned about Ukraine receiving military aid from the West beyond the NATO framework. The Republican Party has won control of the U.S. Congress (with its next goal being the presidency in 2016) and we are confident it will be more active in providing such support.