Mircea Geoană: NATO would go to war against Russia, if Ukraine were accepted into the Alliance
Ukraine cannot currently be invited to join NATO, as the Alliance does not want to go to war with Russia, said the Deputy Secretary General of the North Atlantic Alliance, Mircea Geoană, in an interview for the New York Times. At the same time, the official stated that the current situation is completely different from that of 2008, when at the NATO Summit in Bucharest, Ukraine and Georgia were promised the Accession Action Plan.
"Europe has changed. Russia continues the barbaric war, Ukraine is at a different stage. When we say we can't issue an invitation with some pre-set timescales for Ukraine, we mean that that would mean NATO going to war against Russia, which is not our plans, and avoiding escalation is part of our job. Don't think that a cosmetic upgrade of our relations with Ukraine took place in Vilnius. It is a profound change. Now it is a different situation than in 2014 when it was believed that NATO is not a united organisation, that we are not ready to support such a large effort. Now we are trying to mobilise, as much as we can, help for Ukraine"
At the NATO Summit in Vilnius, which took place on July 11-12, Ukraine was waiting for an invitation to join the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance, but this did not happen. At the same time, the accession procedure was simplified by eliminating the Action Plan for accession.
