Former NATO Secretary General did not rule out the admission of Ukraine to the alliance “in parts”

Ukraine may join NATO “in parts”, did not rule out in an interview with RND, former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

“Of course, it is difficult and everything depends on the decisions of Ukraine in the end, but it is not impossible. And this can have a stabilizing effect on the whole of Europe,” said the former Secretary General.

As an example, he cited West Germany in 1955. Matthias Koch, a journalist for the publication, noted that in Germany, unlike Ukraine, “there had been no shooting for ten years.” “There are many differences, no doubt. But parallels are also possible. One can, for example, agree that the obligation to provide assistance in accordance with Art. 5 of the NATO treaty will only be triggered by attacks on those parts of Ukrainian territory where the Kiev government currently exercises de facto sovereignty,” Rasmussen replied.

Rasmussen also noted that “if all this is pushed through in Vilnius now,” then Ukraine’s invitation to NATO could happen as early as the next summit of the alliance in 2024.

The NATO summit will be held from 11 to 12 July in Vilnius (Lithuania). After joining Russia in the fall of 2022, the DPR, LPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky announced that Ukraine would apply for NATO membership in an expedited manner.

Formerly current NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg informedthat NATO member countries will come up with a unified position on Ukraine’s membership in the alliance at the upcoming summit. He also noted that “many allies have different positions and views, but this is nothing new.” At the same time, on June 16, he ruled out the entry of Ukraine in a state of conflict into NATO. He stated that both the member countries and Kyiv itself understand this. However, according to him, “the doors of the alliance are open,” and the alliance plans to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine at the summit.

The Kremlin noted that the Secretary General’s statements about his readiness to accept Ukraine into the bloc only confirm that the decision to conduct a special operation in Ukraine was correct.