If Ukraine doesn't become NATO member in the near future, it can already start acting as part of Alliance - diplomat Bryza

American diplomat Matthew Bryza said this on the air of the Studio West with Antin Borkovskyi program on Espreso TV. 

“When NATO made the terrible decision, largely because of then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel, not to offer a Membership Action Plan to Ukraine and Georgia, it was one of the biggest strategic mistakes NATO ever made. Because if Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic path and its membership in NATO had been approached through a proper membership action plan, I don't think Putin would have ever dared to invade Georgia, nor would he have come to Ukraine in 2014,” he said.

In his opinion, diplomats and political leaders can approach creatively to find a solution, using constructive ambiguity, which would consist in the fact that Ukraine remains neutral for the time being, but it preserves its desire for the future.

“I mean that the agreement that was considered, and which was previously accepted by Ukraine in March of this year, was that Ukraine would announce its neutrality, it was not specified how long it would last, and the status of Crimea and Donbas would be determined or discussed through 15 years; Russia will withdraw all its troops that arrived after February 24. I know that for both President Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people, such an agreement has already lost its relevance, so something similar still needs to be negotiated. But from the point of view of security guarantees, in addition to short-term membership in NATO, one can be even more creative in this matter,” Bryza noted. 

Matthew Bryza. Photo: Gettiimages

He gave an example of a special strengthened partnership with Finland and Sweden.

“We've had a very special security partnership with them. And Sweden even said a few years ago, even though it didn't want to join NATO at the time, they basically did their own equivalent of Article 5 solidarity, which says that an attack on any NATO member would be treated as an attack on Sweden. So Ukraine can resort to something like this, make such statements, and even if Ukraine does not get NATO membership in the near future, it can already start behaving like a participating country,” Bryza concluded.