Atlantic ambitions: why the US declares support for the efforts of Ukraine and Georgia to join NATO

US Permanent Representative to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison said that alliance members will continue to carry out efforts to admit Ukraine and Georgia to the bloc. She announced this at a press conference on the eve of the meeting of the foreign ministers of the alliance, which will be held on April 2.

Answering journalists' question about the recent admission to the alliance of Northern Macedonia, Kay Bailey Hutchinson noted that NATO pursues an open door policy and this will lead to the entry into the bloc of Ukraine and Georgia, as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“We are committed to all these countries becoming NATO members in the future. We want to include all of them in the alliance. We were both in Georgia and Ukraine, ”the American diplomat said.

At the same time, the US Permanent Representative to NATO added that these states should prevail over "Russian disinformation and the forced establishment of borders within these countries."

“Russia should allow these countries to exercise sovereign governance, have their own sovereign territory, their borders. But we are determined to help Georgia and Ukraine counter the Russian aggression, which has crushed parts of these countries. We are not going to weaken these efforts, ”she said.

According to Andrei Suzdaltsev, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs, these statements by the American diplomat are nothing more than rhetoric.

“This is a provocative statement, because these countries have unresolved territorial disputes, which means they cannot become NATO members. These are the rules for joining the alliance. And it is unlikely that NATO will make an exception for Kiev and Tbilisi. In addition, Ukraine and Georgia can interpret such performances as a signal for a violent solution to their territorial problems, which will lead to increased tension on the borders of Russia, ”the expert noted.

Ukrainian perspectives

The American Permanent Representative to NATO expressed confidence that on April 2, as part of the meeting, the Alliance’s Foreign Ministers will approve a package that “will continue to be based on our support and assistance for Ukraine and Georgia.” However, she did not mention the change in the status of these two countries as applicants for joining the alliance.

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• © Francois Lenoir

Recall that in October 2019, Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Dmitry Kuleba said that Kiev will not re-apply for an action plan for membership (MAP) in NATO. He explained that this issue should be "technical, not political." Recall that Kiev already filed such an application in 2008.

The MAP is a program in accordance with which a candidate country should consistently prepare for joining the alliance: the defense, resource, political and economic aspects of the country's activities should be gradually, year after year, adjusted to NATO standards.

In February, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Andrei Zagorodniuk, said that the Ukrainian side expects NATO to become a “partner with advanced capabilities.” Zagorodniuk added that consultants and observers of NATO countries work on Ukrainian territory and report on the progress of reforms in Ukraine.

“They are absolutely happy with the progress of the reforms, they see that with the pace we are moving now, we can definitely expect in October to increase our status in NATO to become a“ partner with advanced capabilities. " If the pace of reforms is maintained, ”said Zagorodniuk.

However, in March, Andrei Taran, who replaced Zagorodniuk as head of the Ministry of Defense, said that the Ukrainian army would not be able to fully switch to NATO standards in the near future.

“Instead of an ambitious, but unattainable goal in the near future, we should have a completely realistic goal - to maximize the ability of the Armed Forces to interact with the forces of the alliance,” said Taran.

As an expert of the Association of Military Political Scientists Andrei Koshkin noted earlier in an interview with RT, military experts from NATO countries have repeatedly indicated that the Ukrainian armed forces still have many problems.

“This is due to the training of personnel and command personnel, and to corruption in the army, and to the interaction structure of AFU units. So for now, the result of the reforms leaves much to be desired, ”Koshkin emphasized.

Unmet Ambitions

In late February, Georgian Prime Minister George Gahariya wrote an article for The Washington Times stating that it was time for NATO to respond to a request for Tbilisi to join the alliance.

The Georgian Prime Minister justifies the need to provide membership in the bloc with the fact that Tbilisi makes a huge contribution to the “transatlantic alliance” and is vital for ensuring the “geopolitical security” of the Black Sea.

• NATO joint exercises in Georgia
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• © Vano SHLAMOV

He also noted that the Black Sea serves as a buffer zone that helps protect Europe, NATO and the vital US interests from hostile powers. He named Russia as the main threat.

However, despite the fact that Georgia has been actively cooperating with the North Atlantic Alliance since the 1990s, the bloc is not in a hurry to accept Tbilisi into its ranks.

Thus, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has repeatedly reported that although Tbilisi has made "significant progress" since 2008, the country still has a lot to do before joining the bloc. Moreover, he indicated that the timing of Georgia’s admission to the alliance has not yet been determined.

According to Andrei Koshkin, Washington uses Georgia as a springboard for "political and military pressure on Russia." In particular, the expert recalled the joint exercises in Georgia with the participation of NATO countries and their partners, in particular Agile Spirit 2019.

Moreover, as noted by Koshkin, "the army of Georgia, like Ukraine, is currently far from meeting NATO standards."

“There are big problems with training, uniforms, equipment. Deep rooted corruption. To fix all this, a lot of time is needed and, most importantly, serious financial injections are needed. Kiev and Tbilisi today simply do not have such funds, and the help of the West is clearly not enough. Given the difficult times the world economy is currently experiencing, it is unlikely that the situation will change in the near future, ”said the expert.

"Duty phrases"

Speaking of open door politics, Hutchinson recalled that North Macedonia has recently become a NATO member. However, according to Denis Denisov, director of the Institute for Peace Initiatives and Conflictology, admitting North Macedonia to the alliance does not mean that Georgia and Ukraine will soon have full membership. As the expert noted in an interview with RT, there are a number of problematic issues - political, economic, social - that will not allow Kiev and Tbilisi to join NATO in the foreseeable future.

“Joining an unstable, unstable state like Ukraine or Georgia can be quite expensive for the North Atlantic Alliance,” the expert noted.

However, Denis Denisov added, rhetoric similar to the statements of the US Permanent Representative to NATO will continue to sound.

“Indeed, from the point of view of the military-strategic interests of the Russian Federation, the acceptance of Ukraine and Georgia into NATO as full-fledged members will be a clearly hostile step, to which Moscow is ready to give an adequate response if necessary. And the alliance is well aware of this, so no one there is going to enter into conflict with Russia over Ukraine and Georgia. Such statements are more like on-duty phrases that are needed to encourage Kiev and Tbilisi, ”concluded Denis Denisov.