If Ukraine joins NATO, Putin will have to fight with the Alliance for Crimea

Анастасія Діденко
·
17:35, 02 February
If Ukraine joins NATO, Putin will have to fight with the Alliance for Crimea
Image source: УНІАН

The President of the Russian Federation called it inadmissible to strengthen the security of some states at the expense of others. According to Vladimir Putin, the main goal of the United States is to "restrain the development of Russia," and Ukraine is only "an instrument to achieve this goal".

He stated this on February 1 at a press conference following talks with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

"The doctrines of Ukraine itself state that they are going to return Crimea, in particular by military means. Not what they say to the public, it is written in the documents… Imagine that Ukraine is a NATO country and starts these military operations. What do we need to fight the NATO bloc? Has anyone thought about this? It seems not", - Putin said.

Dmitry Snegiryov, co-chairman of the Prava Sprava party, calls it another red line that Putin is trying to dictate to the United States and the North Atlantic Alliance.

"He hints that in the event of Ukraine's accession to NATO or NATO's eastward expansion, they will have to face a corresponding military response from the occupying country. This is no longer a veiled element of military blackmail. Putin makes it clear that if NATO moves to Ukraine, closer to Russia's borders, the Russian Federation is ready for a direct military escalation. And it will no longer be with Ukraine, but with the whole NATO bloc", - military expert Dmytro Snegiryov told Suspilne Crimea.

Putin believes that Crimea is "Russia's sovereign territory." He reiterated that Ukraine is just a "tool to deter Russia" for the United States.

Lawyer, economic expert and analyst Andriy Vigirinsky believes that during the press conference, Putin was asked questions so that he would focus on the Crimean aspect.

"It simply came to our notice then. He spoke of NATO's eastward expansion, realizing that NATO's expansion to the east could only be at the expense of Ukraine. In fact, in this context, he conducted a dialogue on negotiations between the United States and Russia and the Russian Federation and NATO to take into account the principle of indivisibility of security in the context of expanding NATO's borders. As for Crimea itself, he voiced what is common in Russia, because, according to the occupying country, the issue with Crimea has long been resolved, and Ukraine, which he emphasized, among some of his doctrinal documents, intends to reconquer Crimea militarily . He did not refer to the documents, but this manipulation took place in his specific thesis. As a result, Putin has once again proved that he does not see the possibility of NATO expansion to the east", - Andriy Vigirinsky said.

Dmitry Snegiryov stressed that these statements should not be taken seriously, as this is a common attempt by Russia to create a redistribution of the world.

"We are talking about the military and political influence of the Russian Federation on the" post-Soviet space". Accordingly, Ukraine has a key role to play, but at the same time, Putin should not forget that Crimea is an integral part of our country. In any case, Ukraine will be able to return the occupied territories. Don't panic and jump to conclusions. I emphasize that this is one of the elements of military-political blackmail by the Russian Federation, "the expert said.

Andriy Vigirinskyi expressed his opinion on why Putin is so afraid of Ukraine's accession to NATO.

"According to the rules of collective security of NATO member states, it is not Ukraine that will fight for Crimea, but NATO and the Russian Federation. According to Putin's manipulative logic, Ukraine is prescribing a way to return Crimea using military forces and certain military components. He did not specify what documents he was talking about, but within the framework of the Crimean platform, it is exclusively a matter of political and diplomatic path without the use of the Armed Forces. He concluded that no one is going to return Crimea, and if NATO wants to help Ukraine in this, it will have to fight. This can be seen as a voiced threat using manipulative methods", - Vigirinsky said.

He added that the thesis was more vocal for NATO members, suggesting that integrating Ukraine into NATO in the situation with occupied Crimea, which Russia considers its territory, would in fact mean a military conflict between NATO and Russia. But this is another manipulative statement that seeks to persuade the Alliance to comply with the terms of the Russian Federation.

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