Ukraine could be invited to NATO before war’s end – Former NATO Secretary General

Former NATO Secretary General (2009-2014) Anders Fogh Rasmussen has proposed that the North Atlantic Alliance should admit Ukraine into its ranks prior to the conclusion of the conflict with Russia. Rasmussen made this recommendation during an interview with the Finnish news agency STT.

“The sooner we do it, the sooner we will end the war,” Rasmussen said, adding that the issue of Ukraine’s membership in the Alliance should be resolved first, and only then can the war with Russia be ended.

At the same time, the decision that Ukraine cannot be admitted to NATO until the war is over gives Putin “an excuse to continue the war indefinitely,” the politician said.

Rasmussen is convinced that NATO members will be able to achieve unity on this issue and offer Ukraine membership at the next NATO summit in Washington in July 2024. 

Currently, Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty on collective self-defense stipulates that an attack on any NATO member state is considered an attack on all of them. Rasmussen suggests that if Ukraine does join, this article could hypothetically apply only to the territory controlled by Ukraine at the time.

Such a decision would protect almost all of Ukraine’s territory from Russian aggression and would allow Ukrainian forces engaged in operations outside the contact line to put pressure on the Russian occupation forces, the former NATO Secretary General added. 

The period between Ukraine’s invitation to join NATO and its membership should be as short as possible, Rasmussen emphasizes. During this period, Ukraine should also have security guarantees from the Alliance, the former Secretary General added. “The same as was done in the case of Finland and Sweden,” Rasmussen summarized.