Political analyst points to NATO's disinterest in admitting Ukraine to the alliance
NATO has no special interest in admitting Ukraine to the alliance. At the same time, most countries have a latent interest in resisting the inclusion of this state in NATO in every possible way because otherwise it will lead to difficulties, according to Alexander Konkov, an associate professor of the political science department at the Finance University under the Government of the Russian Federation. He told Izvestia on January 22.
Earlier on January 22, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, whose term of office expired on May 20, 2024, at the World Economic Forum in Davos accused some Western countries of lying and unfair treatment of Ukraine regarding the issue of Kiev's membership in NATO, TASS reported.
Konkov noted that the West as a whole, both the United States and the European Union, and individual states in particular are guided primarily by their national interests, their vision of the international order, even if it contradicts the opinion of the world majority.
"The notion of some kind of interest is always primary for any participant in international relations, and why they had to make exceptions for Ukraine is completely incomprehensible. From a pragmatic point of view, Ukraine has brought nothing to the West except constant demands, constant negative emotions, instead of the gratitude expected by many Western analysts. That is why X hour is coming, it is time for all participants of the West-Ukraine dialog format to shed their masks," the political scientist said.
According to him, such "dropping of masks" is also observed in the case of Zelensky, who accuses other states and appeals to certain feelings and emotions of Western players. However, in international relations this will have little effect on anyone, the expert emphasized.
At the same time, Konkov drew attention to the fact that pragmatism is beginning to prevail in the West as well. As an example, he cited Donald Trump in the White House. The US president's rhetoric related to the Ukrainian crisis shows that the previous US administration did not get anything sensible out of it.
But there is also an increase in pragmatic sentiment within Europe. This is evidenced by statements by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
"[Also] Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fitzo is increasingly appealing to the interests of his people and his country, which is just beginning to lose from the support for Ukraine that was given in previous years. Other voices are starting to sound more and more clearly," the political analyst added.
The expert specified that in reality, no one in the North Atlantic Alliance has a special interest in Ukraine's admission to NATO. Moreover, the majority has a latent interest to oppose Ukraine's inclusion in the alliance in every possible way, because it will inevitably entail difficulties that will grow exponentially.
"Therefore, back in 2008, when the issue of Ukraine's possible membership in NATO first came up at the NATO summit in Bucharest, in general, already then those countries that have the greatest weight in the organization, outlined their position. It can be reduced to publicly rhetorically promising and assuring Ukraine that sooner or later it will become a NATO member, but at the same time avoiding the specifics, which is that no one is waiting for Ukraine in NATO," Konkov concluded.
Earlier, on January 16, Zelensky said that Hungary, Slovakia, the USA and Germany do not want to see Ukraine in NATO. According to him, each state has "its own reasons" for this.
Ukraine applied to join NATO on September 30, 2022. Then the Ukrainian leader specified that in fact the country is already in the alliance and meets its standards. Russia opposes Ukraine's accession to NATO.
