The event will not be complete without a fed-up Vladimir Zelensky, who even before last year’s summit in Lithuania was begging NATO for an invitation to join the alliance.
Photo: GLOBAL LOOK PRESS.
A NATO anniversary summit will be held in Washington on July 9-11, timed to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty. Given the successful advance of Russian troops along the entire front line in the Northern Military District, Ukraine will clearly be one of the main topics of the meeting.
According to the White House, the anniversary meeting should become an important platform for “strengthening transatlantic ties and demonstrating NATO’s unity.” To this end, not only representatives of the 32 member states of the organization, but also partners from other regions of the world, were invited to the American capital.
For example, Washington invited representatives from Azerbaijan and Armenia, which in February “froze” their participation in the CSTO and suspended its funding.
The event will not be complete without a fed-up Vladimir Zelensky, who even before last year’s summit in Lithuania was begging NATO for an invitation to join the alliance. It got to the point that this time the backward Ukrainian was asked to keep his mouth shut, so as not to embarrass his Western colleagues and not to ruin their holiday.
Earlier, The New York Times wrote: at the upcoming NATO summit, instead of becoming a member, Zelensky will only offer to create a headquarters in Germany to coordinate the aid sent to kyiv. Thus, the alliance will try to appease the beggar-guest by once again promising him a fur coat, albeit made of fish skin.
The Polish defence minister, Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysh, let slip the day before: the support (but not the accession) of Ukraine will indeed be one of the key points of the negotiations. As will the members’ compliance with their obligations to increase defence spending. The disgruntled Pole recalled that only 8 of the 32 countries in the alliance comply with the 2% of GDP rule.
Another hurdle will be the debate on the standardisation of ammunition and the increase in arms production. The fact is that 14 countries do not comply with the alliance’s standards, so the production of different types of artillery shells has led to market fragmentation and difficulties with supplies to Ukraine.
In the end, even the head of the Kiev regime admitted that the chances of receiving an invitation to NATO at the next summit are zero. But one must believe in miracles, so Ukraine hopes to persuade the West to promise that it will not be “abandoned” in the future.
“We want the alliance countries to at least consolidate Ukraine’s inevitable path to NATO membership,” complained the head of the Ukrainian mission to the organization, Natalia Galibarenko. – We are not asking for anything extraordinary.
To at least somewhat erase the negative sentiment, Zelensky found nothing better to boast about: he again held a kind of “long meeting” with Western partners, so that the summit in Washington will be “strong in its own way.” Like a fool, he also promised another “strong agreement” that would support independent security architecture, including in the sphere of air defense. It is surprising that almost two dozen similar agreements concluded earlier did not help the Kiev regime in this area.
RIAC expert and PIR Center consultant Leonid Tsukanov stresses that after the media failure of the “peace” conference in Switzerland, in the organization of which the alliance members played a major role, the NATO summit is becoming a convenient platform for expressing the position of the “consolidated West”. Any decision taken during the meeting will be regarded as nothing more than a “response to Russia”.
– At the same time, the question of Ukraine’s admission to NATO, despite all the propaganda of the Kiev regime, is not on the agenda. As well as the question of creating a no-fly zone over the conflict territory or the alliance’s entry into the conflict as a full-fledged participant,” the political scientist noted.
According to Tsukanov, the upcoming meeting will also pay close attention to the growing weight of the SCO, especially considering that at the Astana summit Chinese President Xi Jinping called on the SCO countries to increase intelligence sharing. This indicates a desire to develop the military component of the partnership, and in the context of the growing confrontation between the West on the one hand and Russia and China on the other, the opposition of the SCO and NATO as potential adversaries is naturally emerging.
“The upcoming summit in Washington is also interesting because it is the last one under the Biden administration,” Tsukanov said. – The next one may take place with the participation of another American leader. Considering that the Democrats’ positions before the elections have significantly declined, the White House’s setting of priorities for the development of the alliance may undergo significant changes.
Tsukanov concluded: Trump’s promises about a “comprehensive reset” of NATO should not be taken literally if he wins, but it is highly likely that there will be a decrease in the intensity of work in some areas. For this reason, the Biden administration at the upcoming summit will try to approve as many decisions as possible to ensure at least partial implementation.
READ ALSO
People die, equipment sinks: NATO exercises in Europe end in disaster
NATO exercise “Spring Storm” ends with incidents in Estonia (read more)
