Merkel reveals NATO decision haunted by Russian threat
On Tuesday, Angela Merkel's latest book will be released. The former Chancellor of Germany reveals why she blocked Ukraine's aspirations for a swift accession to NATO in 2008.
An excerpt from the former Chancellor's book was published on Thursday by the magazine "Die Zeit".
The book is titled "Freiheit" (Freedom). It's a collection of memoirs in which Angela Merkel writes about the crucial NATO summit in 2008, where they discussed granting Ukraine and Georgia candidate status for the Alliance.
She reveals that she blocked these plans because she was already concerned about a military response from Russia at that time.
"I understood (their) desire... to become members of NATO as quickly as possible, because they wanted to be part of the Western community after the end of the Cold War", Merkel wrote. Barron's added that "NATO had, however, to consider the effect of each potential new member on its own 'security, stability and ability to function'", according to Merkel's book.
Angela Merkel on "gross negligence"
"The admission of a new member should not only bring (the member) more security, but also NATO. We in NATO had no common strategy for dealing with Russia," the former Chancellor explained.
In my opinion, it was an illusion to assume that the status of the MAP (Action Plan for NATO Membership, Membership Action Plan) would provide protection to Ukraine and Georgia, Merkel wrote in her memoirs.
The former Chancellor assesses in the book that it was an illusion to assume that MAP status would protect Ukraine and Georgia from Putin's aggression, that this status would be so deterrent that Putin would passively accept the developments.
Former Ukrainian foreign minister: Putin will shout and threaten, but nothing will happen
Russia will react to Ukraine's accession to NATO in the same way as with Finland's recent accession—as assessed in a Wednesday interview with the Spanish newspaper "El Mundo" by Dmytro Kuleba, former head of Ukrainian diplomacy (he served as Foreign Minister of Ukraine from 2020 to September 2024. He was succeeded by Andriy Sybiha).
When Ukraine becomes a member of NATO, (Vladimir) Putin will react exactly as he did with Finland’s accession. He will shout, threaten, and nothing will happen, Kuleba believes.
Finland, along with Sweden, applied to join NATO in May 2022. It became a member of the Alliance at the beginning of April 2023.
According to Kuleba, thinking that Ukraine's accession to NATO will lead to a third world war is a mistake. "It's the opposite: inevitably, it will lead to it if Ukraine is outside NATO," the former minister declared.
He believes that Ukraine's failure will lead to the emigration of millions of citizens, and "the war will reach the European Union and NATO." Kuleba considers that problems in the region, observed, for example, on the Polish-Belarusian border, will then be "a hundred times greater."
"If Russia wins, it will be the end of the Ukrainian state and the end of Europe as a zone of prosperity and peace. If Russia loses, it will be just the end of the Russian imperial project," Kuleba assessed. "Not the end of the Russian state, but of Russia as an empire," the politician added.
