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.
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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.