NATO with heavy promise to Ukraine

I the closing statement from the NATO summit in Washington, which was announced on Wednesday evening Norwegian time, the alliance’s 32 members who were waiting for Ukraine to be given an “irreversible path” towards NATO membership.

– We fully support Ukraine’s right to organize its own security and decide its own future, without outside influence. Ukraine’s future is in NATO, says the declaration.

– When the time is right, Ukraine can become a member of NATO. It is not a question of “if” Ukraine will become a member, but “when”, says Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg at a press conference in Washington on Wednesday.

Reservation

However, the declaration does not contain any promise of a formal invitation to Ukraine for membership, nor a clear timeline for when this might come.

At the same time, several caveats are made in the declaration:

– We assure once more that we will be in a position to send an invitation to Ukraine when the allies agree and the prerequisites are met, the declaration states.

The road can be long, says Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (Ap) to NTB.

– Very important and comprehensive decisions must be made in NATO before a membership process can begin. There are quite a few criteria that must be met when it comes to reforms that are necessary, and there are many of them, he points out.

– And Ukraine is currently at war, and that makes membership irrelevant, he adds.

A decision to send a membership invitation to Ukraine must be unanimous.

Dispute over wording

How NATO should formulate its position on Ukraine in the final declaration has been among the most contentious issues in the run-up to the NATO summit.

In particular, there has been a dispute over whether the word “irreversible” should be included. The word is considered an important signal.

Heavy member states such as the USA and Germany have for their part resisted, for fear that this will provoke Russia further.

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, for his part, believes that the declaration does not go far enough.

– But this is what we managed to agree on, he says according to Reuters.

Give advice to Zelenskyy

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj has also fought hard to get tangible guarantees.

But Støre does not think he will do as he did last year in Vilnius, when Zelenskyj announced his disappointment with the NATO summit on the messaging service X.

– No, I don’t think so, because I think that Zelenskyj and Nato have learned from it. When he met the Nordic countries in Stockholm in May, our advice to him was to go for positive results at this summit, not for those where you didn’t quite get there.

– One of the things he has emphasized most in the weeks leading up to this summit is the need for concrete support for air defence. And there are now very strong signals regarding very concrete deliveries, says Støre.

Clear China warning

In the final statement, NATO leaders also express “deep concern” over China’s deepening relations with Russia and accuse Chinese authorities of playing a key role in helping Russia’s warfare in Ukraine.

– China has become a decisive enabler of Russia’s war once morest Ukraine through its so-called borderless partnership and extensive support for Russia’s defense industry, the final statement reads.

– China cannot enable the biggest war in Europe in recent history without this negatively affecting their interests and reputation, it continues.

According to NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, this is the strongest message a united NATO has ever sent to China.

– We must be clear-eyed when it comes to China. China’s support for Russia means that the war in Ukraine is being prolonged. China cannot continue in this way, he stated at a press conference on Wednesday.