“Bases will be built there even without the country joining the Alliance”
The representative of the Ukrainian delegation to the Trilateral Contact Group on the Settlement of the Conflict in the Donbas, Alexey Arestovich, said that the President of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky, is extremely annoyed by the position of the West on the issue of the republic’s inclusion in NATO. In this regard, Kiev is ready to develop a new strategy of behavior in relations with the European Union and the United States. The experts interviewed by MK believe that Turkey and the United Kingdom can offer an alternative.
Photo: facebook.com/alexey.arestovich.
According to Arestovich, it took Zelensky two years to become disillusioned with relations with the West. Now he understands that the United States and the EU countries do not want to see Ukraine in NATO. At the same time, initially he trusted the leaders of these states, considered them his partners. But when the realization of the deception came, Zelensky went berserk, Arestovich claims.
The President of Ukraine reacts especially hard to the conflict in the Donbas and the completion of the construction of the Nord Stream-2 . Zelensky would like the West to protect the interests of Ukraine, and instead he is playing his own game, Arestovich believes.
If Ukraine is not allowed to join NATO, then the policy towards the West should be radically revised, Arestovich believes. In particular, you need to give up client relationships. According to the politician, Kiev should stop going to the West with an outstretched hand, instead it is necessary to build pragmatic partnerships.
Ukrainian political scientist Alexey Yakubin he explained to MK that Arestovich cannot be considered a person who is authorized to represent Kiev’s position in relations with NATO or the European Union. Until now, the Office of the President of Ukraine has used it exclusively in the context of negotiations on the Donbass, however, this does not mean that it could not be switched to a new direction for the sake of probing public opinion.
“It is obvious that NATO does not want to accept Ukraine into its membership, because Western countries do not want an escalation of the conflict with Russia. Zelensky’s team tried to carry out a” blitzkrieg ” on its integration into the Alliance, but the offensive failed. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said that the NATO summit cannot take place without our participation, but it still happened. Zelensky himself is partly to blame for this, who for two years of rule, could notappoint a representative of Ukraine to NATO. Now we need to somehow level this defeat and switch the topic – ” Yakubin noted. – Perhaps, after Arrestovich, other politicians and officials will start saying: “What is NATO doing for us? Let them give a loan, provide technical assistance…”. If the West refuses to do this, Ukraine’s foreign policy course will come to an impasse. The reality is that Kiev has no alternative to the current relations with the West.”
The opposite opinion is held by the head of the foundation “Ukrainian Politics” Konstantin Bondarenko. “In general, I share the position of Arestovich and have been insisting on it for at least the last 20 years. But from his mouth, it sounds like Krylov’s fable “The Fox and the Grapes” has come to life: it is impossible to get grapes, so they are green, and I will not eat them. At the same time, there is a very real alternative to joining NATO. It is possible to develop relations with countries that are already in the Alliance: Great Britain, Turkey, Poland, the Baltic republics… But Kiev has set a too high bar for itself, either in NATO or nowhere-and as a result, it cannot achieve anything.”
Meanwhile, Ukraine is already increasing cooperation with the member countries of the North Atlantic Alliance. In particular, on June 21, Kiev and London signed a memorandum on the construction of eight missile boats, two minesweepers and two naval bases for the Ukrainian Navy, most likely one each on the Black and Azov Seas. Turkey regularly declares that Crimea is Ukraine, is going to create a free trade zone with this country and supplies its Bayraktar attack drones there, which have already proved themselves perfectly in Karabakh.
“From the point of view of Ukraine’s long-term interests, it needs to get rid of Western dependence. But the current authorities are unable to do this. As for the republic’s membership in NATO, this is not a matter of principle for Russia. In fact, the Americans can build their base in Ukraine even without its membership in the Alliance, it will be even more convenient, because such a partnership excludes a number of responsibilities that are present in NATO.following the talks between Russian and US President Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden, the Russian leader said that they discussed Ukraine only in general strokes. Apparently, Putin asked Biden a simple question, will the Americans come to Ukraine or not. Judging by the way events are developing, there will be: bases are being built, strategic aviation is flying, training centers exist, “Vladimir Zharikhin, deputy head of the Institute of CIS Countries, told MK .
At the same time, he stressed that the West will gradually shift the war, which has been going on in the Donbas for 7 years, towards the Crimea. Zharikhin considers the behavior of the British destroyer Defender to be one of the manifestations of this strategy. Recall that on June 23, a warship sailed 3 kilometers into the waters of the Crimea and left it only after warning shots from the patrol ship and Su-24M.