Ukraine’s defence minister has raised the stakes before the next Nato summit, saying he expects a “guarantee” that his country will be invited to join the military alliance at the conclusion of the war with Russia, describing membership as non-negotiable.
Before the 33rd meeting of the alliance’s leaders taking place in a fortnight in Vilnius, Oleksii Reznikov said Kyiv recognised that accession to Nato was not possible while the conflict continued but insisted hard pledges over the future would need to be made.
The Ukrainian government is lobbying hard behind the scenes for a bespoke route to joining Nato that jettisons the normal membership action plan (MAP) that leaves accession at risk of a last-minute veto by any of the member states.
In 2008, before a Nato summit in Bucharest, the then German chancellor, Angela Merkel, vetoed Ukraine being put on a membership action plan despite lobbying from the US government for an open-door policy for former Soviet republics.
Merkel had claimed that the continued debate within Ukraine itself over Nato membership and Russia’s “legitimate security concerns” meant it was not the right time for the country to begin the process of joining the alliance.
Reznikov told the Guardian that no such error should be repeated when the 31 Nato members gather on 11 July in Lithuania’s capital and that hard assurances should be granted.
He said: “In Vilnius, the heads of state and government of Nato member countries will have an opportunity to correct the mistake of Bucharest 2008 and demonstrate responsible leadership, meeting our expectations.
“This will show Russia that its influence must end at its borders, and further aggression will only accelerate the collapse of the terrorist state.
“We are realists and do not demand the impossible. This is why our expectations from the Vilnius Nato summit are very realistic: to receive a guarantee of an invitation to join Nato after Ukraine’s victory in the war. We are ready to sign the accession protocol immediately to start the ratification and final accession procedure.”
Concerns have been raised in the US and Germany that granting early Nato membership to Ukraine might provoke Russia, and change the alliance’s decision-making structure.
France’s foreign minister, Catherine Colonna, at a recent alliance meeting did not sound effusive about ditching the usual MAP process, saying it might “perhaps” be unnecessary, although her British counterpart, James Cleverly, gave London’s firm backing.
Finland, which did not need to go through the Map process, became Nato’s newest member when it joined on 4 April and Bosnia and Herzegovina and Sweden are now candidate countries.
Turkey and Hungary have so far blocked Sweden’s membership, an example of the lack of assurance any prospective member can have as they go through the process of accession.
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Reznikov said it was in Nato’s interests to “fortify” its eastern flank given that Russia would remain a threat for the foreseeable future, including to Hungary, whose prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has been criticised by Kyiv for pandering to Moscow.
He said: “The three key prerequisites for being a member of the Nato alliance are interoperability with Nato forces, a transparent procurement system and civilian control of the military. By now Ukraine has successfully implemented all three of these prerequisites.
“In view of Russia’s aggressive stance, which is not going to change anytime soon, it is in the interest of Nato to enhance and fortify its eastern flank. Today, Ukraine is already serving as a protective shield for Nato’s eastern European members. If this shield cracks, the next victims of Russian aggression could be the Baltic states, Poland, Hungary or Slovakia.
“I have no doubt therefore that it is in Nato’s best interest that Ukraine’s combat experience (with the use of Nato standard weapons systems against the Russian army) is made fully available to Nato countries. To achieve this Ukraine must become a full-fledged member of Nato.”
Reznikov said there was no credibility in the previous claims, made by Merkel and others, that membership should not be granted due to an internal debate within Ukraine over its future relationship with the western alliance.
He said Ukrainians were keenly aware of the weak position Ukraine had been left in by the Budapest memorandum of 1994, under which the country gave up its nuclear arsenal in return for commitments from the US, Russia and Britain “to respect the independence and sovereignty and the existing borders of Ukraine”.
Reznikov said: “Importantly, today the support of Ukrainian people for our Nato membership is at a historically unprecedented level – a record high 83%.
“Not least because since 2014 we have seen first-hand the devastating impact of the failure of the Budapest memorandum. This is why Nato membership is perceived by the overwhelming majority of Ukrainians as the only possible efficient form of security guarantees for a peaceful future. And this is exactly why Ukraine’s membership in the Nato alliance, just as our territorial integrity, are non-negotiable.”
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