Individual NATO member states may deploy their troops on the ground in Ukraine if the summit in Vilnius fails to provide Kyiv with any clear prospects for membership in the Alliance, said former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who expressed the opinion in an interview with The Guardian, APA reports.
“If NATO cannot agree on a clear path forward for Ukraine, there is a clear possibility that some countries individually might take action. We know that Poland is very engaged in providing concrete assistance to Ukraine. And I wouldn’t exclude the possibility that Poland would engage even stronger in this context on a national basis and be followed by the Baltic states, maybe including the possibility of troops on the ground,” ex-secretary general stressed.
Rasmussen said that it was imperative that Ukraine should receive written security guarantees, preferably before the summit, but outside the NATO framework.
According to him, “after a slow start, momentum was now building behind these ideas”.
At the same time, Rasmussen noted that security guarantees alone would not be enough for Ukraine.
“Some NATO allies might be in favor of the security guarantees to actually avoid a real discussion on Ukraine’s membership aspirations. They hope that by providing security guarantees, they can avoid this question. I don’t think that is possible. I think the NATO issue will be raised at the summit in Vilnius. I’ve spoken with several eastern European leaders, and there is a group of hardcore, eastern central European allies that want at least a clear path for Ukraine towards NATO membership.”
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