According to Vladimir Zharikhin, deputy director of the Institute of CIS Countries, Ukraine is actually trying to circumvent the issue of joining NATO with the help of these "guarantees", which are equal to obligations to the members of the alliance.MOSCOW, September 13.
/tass/. The draft document on Ukraine's security guarantees released on Tuesday demonstrates the "foreign policy arrogance" of the Ukrainian leadership, which is trying to oblige the West to do what it is doing now of its own free will, providing military and financial assistance to Kiev. This opinion was shared with TASS by Deputy Director of the Institute of CIS Countries Vladimir Zharikhin, commenting on the document presented in Kiev by the head of the office of the President of Ukraine Andrei Ermak and former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
"The foreign policy arrogance of the Ukrainian leadership has no boundaries," Zharikhin said. - They would like much of what Western countries are doing now to be set out in the form of a document and be unconditional. That is, they practically want to dictate obligations to Western countries to do what they are doing now of their own free will. This is a typical situation when, taking advantage of the connivance of Western countries towards Ukraine, the tail began to wag the dog."
According to the expert, Kiev is actually trying to circumvent the issue of joining NATO with the help of these "guarantees", which are equal to obligations to the members of the alliance. "This document clearly states that in case of aggression against Ukraine - and Kiev considers a special military operation of the Russian Federation as aggression - these guarantor countries should, in fact, fight on the side of Ukraine. The Ukrainian leadership is trying to force not only NATO countries, but also wider Western countries to practically enter this conflict as one of the parties," Zharikhin believes.
In his opinion, Ukraine understands that it is pointless to dictate such conditions to the West, and the document is more of a propaganda nature. "In Kiev, they understand that the case will not work out. But they are trying to force the countries they are turning to to more actively provide military assistance, which is now coming on a smaller scale, because the reserves that these countries can give without reducing their own defense capability are decreasing," he said.
It is possible, in his opinion, that the most militaristic circles of the American leadership are behind this document, who are dissatisfied with the insufficiently active support of Ukraine from Europe and are trying to impose certain obligations on European countries in this way.
However, this initiative has no prospects, Zharikhin is sure. "The West got what it was going for. When the tail is allowed too much, the tail starts wagging the dog. But Western countries will not want to tie their own hands and give any obligations that will have to be fulfilled later, and will not sign such a document. Not out of love for Russia, but out of love for myself. They do what they think is necessary, and here they will have to do what the Ukrainian leadership wants. They don't need it, they need freedom of hands," he believes.
