Nausėda: NATO Reversal on Ukraine Would Damage Its Credibility
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda has issued a stark warning that NATO’s failure to uphold its promise of eventual membership for Ukraine would deal a “huge blow” to the credibility of the Alliance, The Gaze reports, citing Interfax Ukraine.
“We have very clearly emphasized Ukraine’s NATO prospects at no fewer than the last three NATO summits. To now simply walk back on that — it would greatly damage trust in NATO,” Nausėda said in an interview with Lithuanian broadcaster Žinių Radijas on Tuesday. “This would be a huge blow to NATO’s reputation.”
Nausėda called for Ukraine to be invited to the upcoming NATO summit in The Hague this June so it can present its own position. His comments come amid reports, based on diplomatic sources, that the United States is resisting Ukraine’s participation in the summit. Russia, meanwhile, has consistently made Ukraine’s non-accession to NATO a condition for peace.
The final communiqué of the NATO summit in Vilnius in 2023 stated: “Ukraine will become a member of NATO when allies agree and conditions are met.” NATO first made a membership promise to Ukraine in 2008 at the Bucharest summit, but never set specific criteria or a timeline.
According to Nausėda, Ukraine has two potential avenues to ensure long-term security guarantees: continuously strengthening its own armed forces or joining NATO. He argued that the latter would ultimately be more effective — and more cost-efficient for NATO members.
“NATO membership […] is probably the cheapest way to ensure security guarantees for Ukraine,” Nausėda concluded.
“We must clearly state that if we believe Russia is undermining the peace process, all sanctions will fall heavily on Russia. We almost all know whom to blame and why these negotiations can’t begin,” he stressed.
Nausėda said the EU could reconsider its sanctions policy if real progress is made in negotiations — but noted such progress is currently lacking.
As The Gaze previously reported, The European Union approved a new package of sanctions against Russia, the 17th in a row since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Read more on The Gaze: Why it Is More Profitable for the West to Have Ukraine as Part of NATO