Germany is set to insist on delaying Ukraine’s accession to NATO over fears the move could take the Alliance to war with Russia, The Telegraph reports referring to its sources.
At the upcoming annual NATO summit in Vilnius, Berlin would urge other NATO members to focus on security assurances to help Ukraine defend itself without accession, rather than membership proposals, according to The Telegraph’s NATO source.
“Berlin is stand-offish at the prospect of offering immediate membership,” the source said. “It wants a process and time to develop guarantees to essentially block membership. […] Berlin doesn’t want to see Vladimir Putin potentially test Article 5.”
The North Atlantic Treaty’s Article 5 says that any attack on a NATO member “shall be considered an attack against them all.”
The Telegraph notes that US President Joe Biden appears to have similar concerns, as he wanted to avoid a situation where “we’re all in the war, we’re in a war with Russia,” and added that Ukraine was “not ready” for NATO membership, and that it was “going to take a while.”
Read also:
- Portugal becomes 23rd NATO member to declare its support for Ukraine’s NATO accession
- End of “partnership era”: what Ukraine wants from the NATO summit in Vilnius
- NATO’s Vilnius summit will unite Alliance behind Ukraine and bring it closer to NATO – Stoltenberg
- Bulgaria signs a declaration of support for Ukraine’s NATO membership after Russian war
- West needs to change its attitude toward Russia, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry says after White House statement on necessity for reforms for accession to NATO
- US supports Ukraine’s accession to NATO when Ukraine meets all requirements – WH
- Foreign policy experts urge NATO to offer Ukraine membership roadmap at Vilnius summit
- Ukraine will get “a lot” at NATO summit, but not as much as expected – Lithuania President
- Zelenskyy called on Biden to invite Ukraine into NATO now even if membership comes after the war — CNN