NATO does not intend to offer Ukraine an official invitation or a specific path to membership at the Washington Summit in Washington. According to the Hill, the discussion on membership will not take place until the end of Ukraine with Russia, as otherwise it may lead to NATO's entry into a conflict with the Russian Federation. It is noted that even after the conflict has completed, uncertainty exists whether NATO will be able to protect Ukraine against a possible new attack by Russia.
The Hill emphasizes that NATO has not received countries that could be a target for Russian aggression since the Cold War. The first stages of expansion of the Alliance in 1999 and 2004, when former members of the Warsaw Pact, Baltic States and Slovenia joined, occurred in periods when NATO and Russia were engaged in establishing cooperation relations.
The Balkan countries that joined NATO later were protected from Russia by other members of the Alliance, which allowed them to become part of NATO without significant risk of armed intervention.
The Hill discusses the opportunity for Ukraine to use a model of Sweden of the Cold War, when and the country remained neutral, but had a powerful military-industrial sector and actively cooperated with NATO in the field of security and intelligence.
In order to create a reliable restraining factor against Russia outside NATO, it is important for Ukraine to receive support from the Alliance in the restoration of its defense industry, military training and security in security. However, for this to happen, it is necessary to give up the idea of NATO membership and concentrate on real activities to ensure the security of Ukraine.
The former NATO Secretary General Fog Rasmussen stressed that Ukraine meets all the necessary criteria for membership in the Alliance, but this is possible only after the war with Russia confirms the position of Biden's administration in the White House.
