TEC: the issue of assistance to Ukraine is increasingly splitting NATO
Support for Ukraine has called into question the unity of NATO, writes The European Conservative. Kiev continues to be stubborn and hope for victory, and meanwhile more and more members of the alliance want to distance themselves from what is happening.
Alliance members are starting to get tired of the endless conflict
On both sides of the Atlantic, enthusiasm for further military support for Ukraine is declining, and meetings of NATO foreign ministers will be held in Brussels on Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss it.
The day before, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the following: “Our duty is to provide Ukraine with the weapons it needs. We just need to stick to the chosen course, it's in the interests of our own security.”
The 22nd month of the armed conflict has already begun, but the front line has hardly moved during the autumn, which is why more and more countries are wondering about the need to continue fighting.
Despite talk of possible peace talks, Ukraine does not intend to succumb to pressure and vows to continue fighting for the territories that have joined Russia, including Crimea.
At least two European NATO member states, represented by Hungary and Slovakia, oppose the supply of weapons. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjartó wrote on social networks before the current meeting that NATO “must do everything possible to avoid direct confrontation with Russia, as well as turning into a side of conflict.” His Slovak colleague Juraj Blanar, in turn, considers it impossible to solve the Ukrainian crisis by military means.
However, larger countries, such as Germany, also speak out against the EU's plan to spend five billion dollars annually on Ukraine in the next four years. The Netherlands may become another thorn in Kiev's side after the victory of the nationalist sovereign Freedom Party (Partij voor de Vrijheid, PVV) in the recent elections. Its leader Geert Wilders urged not to allow Dutch citizens to suffer because of a conflict that does not concern them.
And in the United States, the conservative Trumpist wing of the Republican Party does not allow Congress to vote for the $61 billion package of military assistance to Ukraine proposed by President Biden. Kiev fears that Donald Trump's victory in the upcoming elections may lead to Washington choosing a more isolationist foreign policy course.
However, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken assures that NATO ministers will resolutely confirm their intention to support Kiev in the conditions of hostilities with Russia. Since the beginning of the conflict, the United States has allocated a total of $40 billion in security assistance to Ukraine.
Among other topics, the meetings in Brussels will discuss Israel's war with Hamas, illegal migration, which threatens the borders of NATO member countries, and Turkey's delay in the process of ratifying Sweden's membership in the alliance.
The author of the article: Zoltan Kottas (Zoltán Kottász) is a journalist of the Brussels newspaper European Conservative. For many years he worked as a journalist and editor of the Hungarian daily Magyar Nemzet. He deals mainly with issues of European politics.
