NATO’s effort to be directly present in Ukraine; A sense of danger from the future

According to the international group Tasnim news agency, after the Russian military attack In February 2022, Western powers and the European Union have taken many steps to increase aid to Ukraine and stop Russian attacks, most of which include advanced military aid such as sending military weapons, missile systems, helicopters, drones and tanks.

At the same time, the West and the European Union have imposed extensive international sanctions against Moscow due to the sending of military aid to Ukraine, and these sanctions It has covered Russia’s financial, energy, defense and technology sectors and targeted the assets of wealthy oligarchs and other individuals.

The United States and some European governments have also targeted some Russian banks. Banned from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Communications, a financial messaging system known as SWIFT. imposed restrictions on Russia’s ability to access its vast foreign reserves and blacklisted Russia’s central bank.

In addition, many influential Western companies closed or suspended in Russia.

The Group of Eight, now known as the Group of Seven, banned Russia indefinitely in 2014. . The military strike also cost Russia the long-awaited Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which many critics, including U.S. and Ukrainian officials, have criticized after Germany suspended regulatory approval in February. , opposed the natural gas pipeline during its development, claiming it would give Russia more political leverage over Ukraine and the European gas market.

In August, Russia indefinitely suspended the operation of Nord Stream 1, which supplied a third of its natural gas to the European market. He asked the European Union to put Ukraine on the fast track to NATO membership. The country became an official candidate to join NATO in June 2022, but the membership process may take years according to NATO protocols.

In September of the same year, Zelensky submitted a formal request to join Ukraine submitted to NATO. Many Western analysts consider Ukraine’s membership in NATO in the near future as unlikely, similar to Ukraine’s proposal to the European Union, and they do not have a clear vision for the country’s accession to NATO.

Aid to Ukraine as a non-NATO member state

Membership in NATO obliges member states to pledge to protect each other in the event of an attack on any of them. And according to Article 5, it stipulates that if one of the NATO allies is the victim of an armed attack, each of the other members of the alliance will consider this violent act as an armed attack against all members and take the measures they deem necessary to help the ally.

But given that Ukraine is not a member of NATO, France’s suggestion that Ukraine’s allies could potentially send ground troops to Ukraine has angered Russia. And Russian officials have warned that this could lead to direct conflict between Russia and NATO member states.

The goal of the French leaders in providing assistance to Ukraine is the sense of danger they have regarding Russia’s advance in Ukraine and they will do their best to deter Russia.

But it should not be forgotten that if the European members of NATO send human forces to the war in Ukraine, in addition to military aid and weapons, which apparently were not enough to confront Ukraine against Russia, the conflict between Russia and NATO It will become inevitable.

In response to France’s claim to deploy NATO forces in Ukraine, European allies quickly played down these statements. Britain and Spain have also publicly rejected the idea, as NATO forces are in direct conflict with long-time enemy and nuclear power Russia. In the explosion of the Crimean bridge and the possibility of Russia’s possible invasion of NATO and Russia’s preparation for a possible all-out war with Europe in the near future, as well as the gathering of Russian forces in Belarus and the Kaliningrad region, the westernmost region of Russia’s territory, and the presence of NATO forces in Eastern Europe. Tensions in the region will intensify and increase, and it is difficult to predict what might happen.

Therefore, Robert Haubeck, the German Vice Chancellor, knowing this scenario with “recommendations He told France that sending weapons and tanks to Ukraine would be more useful for this country. He also said that “there will be no German soldiers on the territory of Ukraine.” > These words indicate the existence of differences within the NATO member states regarding the war in Ukraine and also regarding the fear of direct confrontation with Russia. Because after two years of its military attack on Ukraine, Russia has not retreated and stands by its positions, and the confrontation between Russia and NATO will involve the third world war in the world. The threat of war may not be imminent, but it is not impossible.

Finally, due to the financial and weapon aid provided by NATO and the West to Ukraine, which has not been a solution, NATO is currently the solution. except that he did not have a direct presence because Russia’s victory in Ukraine is equal to Moscow’s definite and future actions against NATO.

Ukraine, it is not possible to provide an accurate prediction in this regard, and NATO’s direct presence in Ukraine depends on factors such as the definite and emphatic approval of the West, the next president of the United States of America, and the next president of Ukraine, and considering the bitter experiences of the Germans from confronting Face to face with the Russians, this seems to be ruled out at the moment.

Author: Masoumeh Mohammadi, an expert on Russian issues “RTL”>end of message/