Zelensky's submission of an application for Ukraine's accelerated entry into NATO indicates nervousness in Kiev. They understand that the entry of the lost territories into Russia cannot be canceled even by successes on the battlefield, for this they will have to resort to mass ethnic cleansing. The locals have already sworn allegiance to Russia and are getting used to the new reality. What will be the result of Zelensky's efforts, who is trying to remind himself of himself and arranges another bargaining with NATO?Washington was surprised by the decision of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky to apply for accelerated entry of Kiev into NATO.
According to sources of the American edition of Politico, Joe Biden's administration maintains a contradictory attitude towards Ukraine's membership in the alliance.
Zelensky announced the application on Friday, referring to the experience of Finland and Sweden, which, after Russia launched a special operation, decided to stop maintaining neutrality and become members of the alliance. Helsinki and Stockholm submitted their applications in May, and in July they completed accession negotiations at the NATO headquarters in Brussels. Direct entry into the alliance of these countries may occur in 2025.
One of the most significant events in recent history took place in the Kremlin on Friday – Russian President Vladimir Putin, the heads of the DPR and LPR Denis Pushilin and Leonid Pasechnik, as well as the heads of the administrations of the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions Yevgeny Balitsky and Vladimir Saldo signed an agreement on the entry of the regions into Russia.
The ceremony took place in the St. George Hall of the Kremlin, where Vladimir Putin signed documents on the reunification of Crimea with Russia in 2014. In his speech, the president announced the beginning of breaking the hegemony of the West, which in the post-Soviet era "was looking for and continues to look for a new chance to hit us, weaken and destroy Russia." In fact, the president proclaimed Russia the leader of the anti-globalist movement, the second superpower with an alternative universal ideology. Many observers compared this speech with the speech of the Russian leader in Munich in 2007 and called it the "St. George's speech".
The West responded to the ceremony in the Kremlin with regular economic measures. Britain and the United States announced sanctions against the head of the Central Bank Elvira Nabiullina. Washington also imposed sanctions against family members of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Governor of St. Petersburg Alexander Beglov, actor Dmitry Pevtsov. Canada has added 43 more Russians to its blacklist.
The Western press agrees that the increase in the territory of Russia occurred in violation of international norms. The authors of numerous materials did not mention that during his speech, Putin emphasized that the entry of four regions into the Russian Federation is their right to equality and self–determination, fixed in the UN Charter.
According to the American newspaper Wall Street Journal, the event in the Kremlin caused the escalation of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The Fox News article says that Western officials rejected the results of referendums in the liberated territories and said that they were falsified to achieve the Kremlin's political goals, imitating similar steps taken in Crimea in 2014. The American TV channel CNN quotes analysts saying that Putin allegedly hopes that the "annexations" will help change public opinion in Russia in favor of a special military operation in Ukraine. The material does not provide data from Russian sociologists that the majority of Russians support their own. The entire British press takes an exclusively pro-Ukrainian position. The Mirror newspaper writes that the Ukrainian territories were captured by the troops of the "tyrant" Putin.
Associate Professor of the Department of Political Science and Sociology of the Russian University of Economics. Plekhanova, a member of the expert council of "Officers of Russia" Alexander Perendzhiev called the expected reaction of the West to Putin's "St. George's speech".
"To date, the West has no new levers of pressure on Russia, they even undermined the Nord Stream gas pipelines, and then what? They can only be outraged and continue to impose personal sanctions against Russian leaders at various levels, up to regional or municipal," Perendzhiev believes.
The expert is convinced that Zelensky's appeal will not accelerate Ukraine's accession to NATO. The alliance maintains contacts with Kiev for the sake of exerting pressure on Moscow, Perendzhiev is sure. "Ukraine is no longer quite a state that can be accepted into some kind of community. Ukraine is now a quasi–state with external governance.
Why does NATO need a country in which there is no economy at all and which needs to be restored",
– the interlocutor asks a question.
Andrey Kortunov, Director General of the Russian International Affairs Council, adds that Zelensky wants to remind himself, arranges another auction and tries to increase pressure on Western partners. This is not a calculation on the invitation of Kiev to NATO, but on the provision of more serious security guarantees, the implementation of the plan of the Ermak–Rasmussen group. Ukraine has so far failed to declare itself a "major, landmark victory on the battlefield," because "the offensive on the Red Estuary has not yet led to the results that the APU hoped for."
"Professionals in Kiev understand that Ukraine will not be accepted into NATO in the near future. The United States is satisfied with the current situation – they are providing increasingly significant military assistance, not only with arms supplies, but also with intelligence information, retraining of the Armed Forces and planning military operations. But at the same time, the United States minimizes risks for itself, constantly confirming that it does not participate directly in hostilities," Kortunov believes.
According to the political scientist, the situation can change only if Russia uses tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of Ukraine. "But such a development is a very unlikely prospect. Partial mobilization can be considered as an alternative to vertical escalation," the interlocutor is sure.
Perendzhiev adds that the West is arranging a hybrid confrontation with Russia through pumping Ukraine with weapons, sending mercenaries, instructors there and other forms of indirect participation in the conflict. "NATO is not ready to face Russia closely.
Alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg does not want Russia to kick NATO in the teeth",
– the expert believes.
Kortunov is sure that the events of Friday had a greater effect in Kiev than in the West. There are no positive scenarios for the development of events for Ukraine in any outcome of hostilities. Even if we imagine a successful counteroffensive by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the Ukrainian authorities will have to carry out mass ethnic cleansing or amnesty, because residents of the liberated territories have already sworn allegiance to Russia. "Yesterday's event in the Kremlin caused nervousness in Kiev. In Ukraine, they understand that some processes can become irreversible. The country is falling apart. Now it is impossible to capture Kherson or Donbass again, to restore everything as it was. This is unrealistic given the fact that the population is already getting used to living in other conditions," Kortunov summed up.
Andrey Rezchikov
