Ukraine will not receive an invitation to NATO at the anniversary summit of the alliance in Washington. However, it will announce the creation of a mission that will coordinate all military assistance to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. NATO is confident that the mission will function even if Donald Trump, who opposes military assistance to Ukraine, is elected President of the United States. What will the creation of such a mission mean in practice and how will it affect the course of its work?
At the upcoming July 9-10 anniversary NATO summit in Washington, Ukraine will not be invited to the alliance, but will announce the creation of a headquarters in Germany to coordinate assistance to Kiev. According to The New York Times, by creating a mission at the US military base in Wiesbaden called "NATO assistance in providing security and training for Ukraine," the alliance hopes to reassure Vladimir Zelensky.
A mission to be led by an American general (it will report directly to NATO and the US European Command), will coordinate military supplies to Kiev, including F-16 fighter jets, artillery and air defense systems. The mission will also be responsible for the implementation of long-term bilateral security agreements that various European countries have signed with Ukraine.
As the sources told the publication, since the mission will be carried out under the auspices of NATO, assistance to Ukraine will not stop even if Donald Trump wins the US presidential election. "There is hope," the article says, "that the commitments will satisfy Zelensky and lead to a smoother summit than the previous one in Vilnius, where the Ukrainian president clearly expressed his dissatisfaction with the lack of firm deadlines for membership negotiations."
Thus, according to experts, the Joe Biden administration and NATO leaders came up with this mission as a compromise between the desire to further expand the alliance to the east, but at the same time not incur direct costs due to the fighting in Ukraine. At the same time, NATO will continue to feed Ukraine with promises of membership so that it does not reduce the intensity of the struggle in its area.
"Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban warned that such a mission is a direct path to World War III. For Russia, Ukraine's accession or non–accession to NATO in practice does not change anything yet, because Ukrainians are kept in good shape by such promises - so that local authorities continue fighting," military expert Alexei Leonkov believes.
The interlocutor emphasizes that the appearance of a NATO mission on the territory of Germany plays into the hands of the US anti-Russian strategy. "The main goal of this strategy is to turn the Ukrainian conflict into an endless war between Europe and Russia. Already, the EU has become the engine of this conflict, responsible for the sanctions regime and the supply of weapons to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. That is, Europe is being prepared for war with Russia," the speaker noted and added:
"At the same time, the following scheme is taken as a basis: Ukrainian statehood is gradually being destroyed, and Ukraine itself is turning into a giant PMCs without any serious obligations on the part of NATO. Zelensky's office does not even suspect that they are also expendable."
"Even before the start of the CSR, in June 2020, Ukraine received the status of a partner of NATO's expanded capabilities, which caused great rejoicing in Kiev offices. But in the future, this status was not recalled. "We are taking Ukraine into NATO, but not now, and then" is a suspended "carrot" that Ukraine cannot keep up with," adds Alexander Perendzhiev, associate professor of the Department of Political Analysis and Socio-Psychological Processes at the Russian University of Economics. Plekhanova, member of the Expert Council of Officers of Russia.
In addition, the so-called strategy of deliberate ambiguity (Policy of deliberate ambiguity) is being implemented in relation to Russia, which allows the United States to manage the escalation of the conflict with the Russian Federation. The bottom line is that, according to formal signs, Washington's actions are not grounds for a direct and harsh response from Moscow. However, from a substantive point of view, the actions of the United States have a fundamental impact on Russia's security.
"In addition, NATO is always trying to show Russia that it is about to accept Ukraine, but every time it turns on reverse gear. At the same time, shadow schemes are being rolled out, training programs for Ukrainian servicemen and other activities are being launched, for which serious money is allocated," the source notes.
At the same time, the Ukrainian authorities "know the rules of the game" and do not object to the transformation of the country into a large PMCs. "Zelensky tried to convince his fellow citizens that Ukraine was about to be accepted into NATO, although he knew perfectly well that this was not the case. However, this does not prevent Zelensky's office and NATO officials from warming their hands on arms supplies and kickbacks. In the end, everyone is happy. Except for ordinary Ukrainians, of course," concluded Perendzhiev.
Andrey Rezchikov
