NATO may decide to join the war in defense of Ukraine even before the latter joins the Alliance.
This opinion was expressed in an interview with Ukrinform by the president of the Constitutional Court of Lithuania in the period 2014-2021, who is currently dean of the Faculty of Law at Vytautas Magnus University and member of the Venice Commission, Dainius Žalimas.
“Even when the war drags on, I do not rule out that NATO will have to get directly involved in the war. And it is not necessary for Ukraine to be a member of the Alliance for this. On the basis of the North Atlantic Treaty, states can decide to use military force outside NATO. A case like this occurred in Yugoslavia. The only difference is that in the case of Russia it will be a nuclear power. But I would not rule out such a scenario,” he stated.
Responding to the question of what prevented Ukraine from having a more concrete prospect of joining NATO during the summit in Lithuania, Žalimas said: “I think that at the Vilnius summit a better solution could have been found for Ukraine. For example, inviting to negotiations on entry, without stipulating a specific date. Therefore, it would be clear that negotiations are beginning.”
At the same time, he stressed that “in reality, the biggest problem is the war. If Ukraine joins the Alliance, it is necessary to enter the war [para los Aliados, ed.]which is why Member States do not want to incur such legal obligations.”
Žalimas considers the achievement of the Vilnius summit in relation to Ukraine to be the rejection of the Accession Action Plan.
“Ukraine’s accession to NATO is only a matter of time. No other security guarantee will be as effective,” he emphasized.
As Ukrinform reports, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg paid an official visit to Ukraine on September 28. During the meeting with Stoltenberg, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the country, together with NATO, was working on preparing an adapted Annual National Program to determine practical steps on the path to Euro-Atlantic integration.
OF
2023-09-30 09:08:11
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