Political analyst calls Kiev's demands for NATO membership bargaining attempts

NATO countries are not interested in admitting Ukraine to the alliance; at the moment it is impossible for a number of reasons. Officials in Kiev understand this, but they continue to bargain to prolong their power. This opinion was shared with Izvestia on December 3 by Alexander Konkov, associate professor of the political science department of the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation.

Earlier in the day, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said that it had rejected alternatives to NATO membership. The ministry's statement emphasized that joining the bloc is "the only real security guarantee" for the country, the Ukrainian newspaper European Pravda reported.

"For the current Ukrainian leadership, bargaining is the only option to continue their existence in the conditions of illegitimacy, constant problems they are certainly experiencing on the battlefield, constant military pressure. <...> The real interests of the member states of the alliance do not extend to taking Ukraine as a member," Konkov commented.

He also noted that recently, including Kiev's Western partners have been pushing it towards imminent negotiations with Moscow, against the background of which the Ukrainian side is trying to bargain for more favorable conditions for it. However, the West realizes that it would be much safer for NATO member states not to integrate Ukraine into the bloc.

"NATO is not a charitable organization, it is the North Atlantic Alliance, where under the leading role of the United States is formed, including a nuclear umbrella, a security umbrella over all member states of the bloc. For the alliance, the main task is to understand the borders of the territories where its zone of responsibility ends, <...> there should be a specific perimeter of the state, which Ukraine does not have in their understanding," the interlocutor of the newspaper concluded.

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Also on Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Ukraine's membership in NATO is unacceptable for Russia because it is a threatening event. According to him, the security of one country cannot be ensured to the detriment of the security of another state.

In addition, on that day, Reuters quoted diplomatic sources as saying that Kiev expects to receive an invitation to the alliance at a meeting with representatives of the bloc, but there is no likelihood of such a scenario because the bloc's members are not ready for it yet.

Earlier, on December 2, it was reported that the meeting of NATO foreign ministers would not reach an agreement on inviting Ukraine to the alliance. In addition, it is noted that Kiev has made it clear to Western countries that it will need "at least $120bn" by 2025. This exceeds the amount previously agreed at the NATO summit in Washington.

In addition, on November 29, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose term of office expired in May, said in an interview with the British TV channel Sky News that he might agree to a ceasefire and giving up some territories in exchange for Ukraine's NATO membership.

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