Howard Altman – The War Zone Aug 16, 2023
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg’s chief of staff on Tuesday created a bit of an international kerfuffle with his suggestion on how Ukraine might obtain its coveted NATO membership.
“I believe that a solution may be that Ukraine gives up territory and receives a NATO membership in return,” said Stian Jenssen in a panel debate in southern Norwegian coastal city of Arendal, according to the Norwegian VG news outlet.
NATO's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg's chief of staff says "I think that a solution could be for Ukraine to give up territory to Russia, and get NATO membership in return" – VGhttps://t.co/SdkRNPTc1F pic.twitter.com/L3dvh3KXZA
— Faytuks News Δ (@Faytuks) August 15, 2023
Discussion of Ukraine’s possible status after the war is already underway, Jenssen told the publication. He added that questions of surrendering territory to Russia have been raised by others, whom he did not name.
Jenssen also pointed out that “it must be up to Ukraine to decide when and on what terms they want to negotiate.”
“I’m not saying it has to be this way,” said Jenssen. “But there may be a possible solution.”
Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhalio Podlyak took to Twitter to skewer the suggestion.
“Trading territory for a NATO umbrella? It is ridiculous,” he said. “That means deliberately choosing the defeat of democracy, encouraging a global criminal, preserving the Russian regime, destroying international law, and passing the war on to other generations.”
Trading territory for a NATO umbrella? It is ridiculous. That means deliberately choosing the defeat of democracy, encouraging a global criminal, preserving the Russian regime, destroying international law, and passing the war on to other generations. After all, why should Russia…
— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) August 15, 2023
After Jenssen’s comments, a NATO official reassured Ukraine that there has been no change in policy.
“We fully support Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as NATO leaders reaffirmed at the Vilnius Summit in July,” the unnamed official told Ukrainian Pravda. “We will continue to support Ukraine as long as necessary, and we are committed to achieving a just and lasting peace.”
Beyond being a non-starter in Kyiv, the question of a land-for-membership swap is highly unlikely. During its July summit in Vilnius, NATO basically pushed the concept of Ukrainian membership until after this war is over on Ukrainian terms
While the summit’s decision “contains relatively positive phrasing regarding Ukraine,” nothing is imminent, European Pravda reported Tuesday.
“In particular, the NATO Summit agreed to remove the requirement for a Membership Action Plan for Ukraine’s path to the Alliance. At the same time, the allies indicated that they would invite Ukraine to join NATO ‘when conditions are met.‘”
Still, that a NATO official would suggest such a move is significant in itself.
Before we head into the latest news from Ukraine, The War Zone readers can catch up on our previous rolling coverage of the war here.
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Meanwhile former Russian president Medvedev has signaled that Moscow is willing to listen:
Pointless suggestion, it won’t happen. UKraine must be deNazified and demilitarised.
the winner takes it all !
UP TO THE POLISH BORDER !
NATO = Negro Antifa Talmud Organization
The Russians would be very unwise to accept such a proposal. Ukraine will be used as a base for terrorist operations directed by MI6/CIA.
Highly doubt that will happen. One of Russia’s objective in this Special Operation is for Ukraine to be neutral. Joining NATO is not neutral. All this is Western blunder.
This will never happen and is all part of western political theatre in a Bait and Switch move. Moscow will never trust any agreement or treaty signed with the west because NATO crossed a Russian red line when NATO moved eastward from the new unified Germany border. This is just a move to show that the West as NATO is for peace so the MSM can push the narrative on the sheeple. This Russia-Ukraine war will not end until America and NATO destroy themselves and then the main European powers can switch to joining Russia and China in a Eurasian Landmass Super power. This new multipolar power will go from Beijing, China to Moscow, Russia and Berlin, Germany. This is BRICS+ and SCO combined and is written about by the likes of Pepe Escobar and Philip Giraldi. Moscow in the end is aware of the Trojan horse!