Merkel says NATO security fears over Ukraine's admission to alliance

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in her memoirs that she feared for NATO's security in case Ukraine was admitted to the alliance and opposed it in 2008. This was reported by the German newspaper Bild on November 20.

The former German chancellor was against the idea of Ukraine joining NATO because this action could provoke Russia to retaliate. According to her, the contact between the military structures of the alliance and the Russian Federation could lead to instability in the world.

"The admission of a new member should bring more security not only to it, but also to NATO. Therefore, there are criteria for the admission of a country that, in addition to its military capabilities, also take into account the candidate's domestic structure," Merkel wrote in the memoir.

She added that in 2008 at the summit in Bucharest she actively opposed Ukraine's entry into the alliance and gradually tried to avoid it.

Earlier, on November 14, the former head of the NATO Military Committee, Harald Kuyat, said that Ukraine would not be admitted to NATO because it did not meet the requirements of the alliance and would not be able to strengthen it. He pointed out that the reason for this was that Ukraine did not meet the requirements of Article 10 of the NATO treaty.

On the same day, the International Republican Institute in Ukraine published the results of a poll, according to which support for the country's accession to NATO and the EU among citizens has fallen by 7% in a year and a half. If in February 2023, 82% of respondents supported the course of European integration, in September 2024 - 75%.

Ukraine applied to join NATO in an accelerated manner on September 30, 2022. At the time, Zelenskyy said that in fact the country was already in the alliance and met its standards.