At least 7 NATO member states oppose Ukraine’s accession to the Alliance. Germany and the United States are among the largest countries that are in no hurry to invite Ukraine to the bloc, Babel reports.
Politico writes about this with reference to its own sources.
Today, the Alliance has not reached the point where it is ready to offer membership or invite Ukraine, – said outgoing US Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith.
This also applies to Hungary and Slovakia, which are generally pro-Russian. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán called the victory plan, which includes a clause on Ukraine’s accession to NATO, “more than terrible”. And Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said in October that allowing Ukraine to join NATO “would be a good basis for World War III” and promised that he would “never agree” to it. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also spoke about World War III.
Belgium, Slovenia, and Spain are not publicly and actively opposing Ukraine in the Alliance because of the “loud” position of the United States and Germany. Politico writes that as soon as membership is closer to being realized, they will begin to deny the idea of Ukraine in NATO more publicly.
The Baltic states and Poland support Ukraine’s accession to the Alliance. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that his country is in favor of “opening the NATO perspective to Ukraine”.
At the same time, Politico’s sources say that neither the United States nor Germany have ruled out Ukraine’s possible accession to the Alliance.
Most European countries will not support Ukraine’s invitation to NATO in the short term. Any future offer of membership in the Alliance will also be linked to the implementation of anti-corruption reforms in Ukraine.
