NATO ex-Sec-Gen Rasmussen: it’s time we set out an action plan for Georgia, Ukraine
Rasmussen emphasises that Russian president Vladimir Putin’s ‘de facto veto on Ukraine and Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations’ should be stopped. Photo: NATO press office.
Tweet 
Share
Former Secretary-General of NATO Anders Fogh Rasmussen says that it is time to set out an action plan for Georgia and Ukraine to become NATO member countries.
We promised both Georgia and Ukraine seats at the NATO table in 2008, and it’s time we set out an action plan to realize our promise,” Rasmussen states in his article On Russia, NATO cannot fold published on American website Politico on January 3.
Rasmussen also emphasises that Russian president Vladimir Putin’s ‘de facto veto on Ukraine and Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations’ should be stopped.
Putin plays a bad hand well — but his tactics only work if we fold.
— Anders Fogh Rasmussen (@AndersFoghR) January 3, 2022
Time for @NATO to call his bluff.
We cannot give Putin the whip hand over European security, nor a de facto veto on Ukraine & Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic ambitions.
My oped @POLITICOEuropehttps://t.co/vWvlxI29Vm
We should end Putin’s de facto veto on Ukraine and Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations, achieved by fomenting low-level conflicts in these countries, the intensity of which he turns up and down to suit his agenda,” the article reads.
Russia released a statement on December 10 demanding NATO member states rescind the 2008 Bucharest Summit declaration supporting Georgia and Ukraine's bid to become members of the alliance.
The Georgian Foreign Ministry states that what Russia says regarding the Bucharest summit decision is ‘unacceptable,’ adding that it is the ‘sovereign right of Georgia’ to join the alliance, based on the wish of the majority of the Georgian population.
Russia occupies 20% of Georgian territory and continues a creeping occupation of the country.
Rasmussen was NATO’s 12th Secretary-General from August 1, 2009, until September 30, 2014.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has stated that NATO cannot compromise on its right to protect and defend all allies in response to Moscow’s recent demand that the alliance should provide security guarantees, the German Press Agency DPA international reports.
Russia has called on NATO member states to rescind the 2008 Bucharest Summit declaration supporting Georgia and Ukraine's bid to become members of the alliance. The statement, issued by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, demanded the security guarantees from the United States and its allies.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen, former Secretary General of NATO, says that the current political crisis in Georgia is damaging the West’s view of the country. In an interview with the Georgian office of Voice of America (VOA), Rasmussen said that domestic, foreign and security policies are closely linked to each other, which the Georgian government should take into account and stabilize the political situation in the country.
Rasmussen said that NATO member states “should move beyond offering warm words” about the democratic will of the Georgian and Ukrainian people, and acknowledge the disruptive role that “Kremlin paranoia is playing” in the accession process.
US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman discussed ways to enhance peace and security in Europe with Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani during a phone conversation yesterday, the US State Department spokesperson’s office reports.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the former NATO Secretary-General, has personally invited Ana Dolidze, the leader of the Georgian political party For People, to participate in the Copenhagen Democracy Summit between June 9-10, the party has said.
It was a mistake by NATO not to grant Ukraine and Georgia their Membership Action Plans (MAP) back in 2008, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the former Secretary-General of the alliance, said in an interview with the Georgian service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty on Monday.
The West made its first “mistake” back in 2008 in not outlining a “clear path” to NATO for Georgia and Ukraine, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the former Secretary-General of the Alliance, has said in an interview with the Foreign Policy magazine.