Rutte dashes Ukraine's hopes of joining NATO, due to a “practical element” signaled by some member states / Putin, threatened with “a devastating reaction”
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, PHOTO: Khalil Hamra / AP / Profimedia Images
The head of the North Atlantic Alliance, Mark Rutte, ruled out Ukraine's accession to NATO on Thursday, due to the opposition of some allies, but he said that the security guarantees being negotiated for Kiev must be so strong that a new aggression from Russia would lead to a “devastating” response, informs the Spanish news agency EFE.
In a press conference Thursday in Orzysz, northern Poland, Rutte explained that, as stipulated in the North Atlantic Treaty, any country in the Euro-Atlantic space can apply to join NATO, and that at the 2024 summit, the alliance's leaders agreed that Ukraine's path to membership was “irreversible.”
However, there is also a “practical element”, the NATO Secretary General admitted.
“Several allies”, including Hungary and the United States, have signaled that they will not give their consent, so if NATO membership is not possible, a formula must be found to prevent a new Russian invasion if a peace agreement is reached in Ukraine, Rutte said, according to Agerpres.
“Devastating Reaction”
Russian President Vladimir “Putin must know that if he attacks Ukraine again after a peace agreement, the reaction will be devastating,” Mark Rutte said.
The NATO Secretary General therefore outlined a series of security guarantees in three “layers”:
- Ukrainian Armed Forces,
- protection provided by the so-called “Coalition of the Will”, led by France and the United Kingdom, which could take the form of a peacekeeping force
- and an element corresponding to the US, the final aspect of which is currently under debate.
Mark Rutte made statements to the press together with the Polish Minister of Defense, Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, after visiting the Land Forces Training Center in Orzysz (north), where NATO's Multinational Tactical Group is based, with troops from Poland, Romania, Croatia, the USA and the United Kingdom.
Poland announces its Patriot batteries are fully operational
On this occasion, Kosiniak-Kamysz announced that on Thursday the two Patriot anti-aircraft defense batteries at Poland's disposal reached full operationality, a fact he described as “historic”.
Also, the Polish Minister of Defense confirmed his country's support for Lithuania in strengthening defenses in the Suwalki corridor and proposed the possibility of holding joint military maneuvers in this place considered a strategic point for NATO.
Earlier, Mark Rutte met with Polish President Karol Nawrocki, who thanked the NATO Secretary General for recognizing Poland's significant contribution to common security.
