Rasmussen: NATO countries can send troops to Ukraine

Some NATO countries may consider the possibility of deploying their troops on the territory of Ukraine, if at the summit in Vilnius Kyiv is not provided with significant security guarantees from members of the Alliance, including the United States. This was stated by former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, his statements are quoted by The Guardian on June 7.

As specified, Rasmussen visited a number of European countries and Washington to assess the current mood before the upcoming NATO summit, which will be held July 11-12 in Lithuania.

According to Rasmussen, “If NATO cannot reach a clear agreement on Ukraine’s prospects in the Alliance, there is a real possibility that some countries may take their own measures.”

He also did not rule out the active participation of Poland in such actions at the national level, Warsaw would be followed by the Baltic countries, “possibly including the possibility of bringing troops.”

Rasmussen believes that the Poles will seriously consider building a coalition of supporters if Ukraine does not achieve meaningful results at the Vilnius summit. He notes that the Poles feel that Western Europe has long ignored their warnings about Russian influence.

The former NATO Secretary General believes that Ukraine’s request for military assistance will be completely legal.

Rasmussen pointed out that Ukraine needs written security guarantees, preferably before the summit, but outside NATO.

In his opinion, these guarantees should include intelligence sharing, joint training, increased production of military supplies, interoperability with NATO and the supply of weapons sufficient to contain Russia.

However, Rasmussen warns that security guarantees for Ukraine will not be sufficient.