NATO ex-Sec-Gen Rasmussen: not granting Ukraine, Georgia MAP in 2008 “a mistake”
Rasmussen claimed the alliance could have acted in a more determine fashion during the decision-making on the question on granting the two countries a pathway for joining its membership at the 2008 Summit in Bucharest. Photo: NATO Press Office
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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.
Rasmussen claimed the alliance could have acted in a more determine fashion during the decision-making on the question on granting the two countries a pathway for joining its membership at the 2008 Summit in Bucharest.
I think we should have done more to deter Putin. Back in 2008, he attacked Georgia, took de facto Abkhazia and South Ossetia. We could have reacted much more determinedly already in that time", the former Secretary-General said.
Rasmussen said he believed the alliance should recognise “appeasement” with authoritarian leaders led to “war and conflict.”
The Helsinki Commission, a US government agency monitoring security in Europe, has called on President Joe Biden to designate Georgia and Ukraine as Major Non-NATO Allies (MNNAs), American global affairs publication Foreign Policy reported on Saturday.
I hope that NATO countries will soon make a political decision on Georgia's membership in the alliance, Nikoloz Samkharadze, the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) MP who chairs the Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, said on Wednesday during the meeting with Alexander Vinnikov, the new head of the NATO Liaison Office in Georgia.
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.
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.
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.