Ukraine and Russia summed up the results of the NATO summit

The NATO summit ended in Bucharest on Friday. On this day, meetings of the Ukraine-NATO Commission and the Russia-NATO Council were held with the participation of the Presidents of Ukraine and Russia Viktor Yushchenko and Vladimir Putin. Mr. Yushchenko placed full responsibility for Ukraine's further advancement into Euro-Atlantic structures on NATO, and Mr. Putin did not miss the opportunity to criticize the alliance for its policy of expansion to the East.

"The Alliance has made a commitment"

The meeting of the Ukraine-NATO commission with the participation of President Viktor Yushchenko and Alliance Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer began on April 4 at 8.45. Mr. Yushchenko was apparently still under the impression of the events that had taken place the day before, the main one of which was the refusal to provide Ukraine with a NATO Membership Action Plan (MAP) (see Kommersant on April 4). He expressed confidence that in December 2008, at the meeting of the North Atlantic Council, which will take place at the level of foreign ministers, Ukraine will receive an invitation to the MAP, and recalled the promise to admit Ukraine to NATO. “This is a historical event for our people and state, so we highly appreciate the support of our intentions to join the MAP by all members of the alliance without exception,” Viktor Yushchenko once again said.

Meanwhile, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer noted that “at a high political level” Ukraine should pay attention to ensuring all the conditions necessary for joining the MAP. “We really value our cooperation and want to develop it,” he said, after which the meeting continued behind closed doors.

About an hour and a half later, Viktor Yushchenko and Jaap de Hoop Scheffer held a joint press conference. Having risen to the podium, Mr. Yushchenko discovered that he had forgotten his pen and therefore could not take notes on the theses of Mr. Scheffer's opening speech. The situation was corrected by alliance spokesman James Appathurai. He went down to the members of the Ukrainian delegation sitting in the front rows, took the pen and handed it to the Ukrainian president.

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer again recalled the agreement of the alliance representatives to Ukraine's accession to NATO, and Viktor Yushchenko once again repeated that on April 3 our country received “a strong and clear text regarding the Ukrainian perspective in NATO.” “This is the first time that NATO has sent its statement to a country that has been under communist influence for 73 years,” Mr. Yushchenko said. According to him, the heads of state and government of NATO member countries noted that Ukraine has made “an exceptional contribution to maintaining security.” “We are the only state that is not a member of NATO, but participates in all peacekeeping operations of the alliance,” said Mr. Yushchenko, finally thanking the Secretary General for “brilliant tolerance, prudence and wisdom.”

After shaking hands with the Ukrainian president, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer turned to the audience. Journalists were invited to ask questions. And then it turned out that Mr. Scheffer did not intend to specify NATO’s “historic” decision regarding Ukraine. He refused to name the true reasons that prevented Ukraine from receiving the MAP already in Bucharest. According to Kommersant's information, there are three of them: the lack of support for the idea of joining the alliance in Ukrainian society, the lack of mutual understanding and constructive work of the branches of government, primarily the president and prime minister, as well as the reluctance to spoil relations with Russia, which has unequivocally stated that it is revising its relations for the worse. and to Ukraine, and to Georgia, and to NATO.

“I don’t want to talk publicly about internal issues.” Both President Yushchenko and I fully agree that the result of the consultations is a categorical statement: Georgia and Ukraine will become members of NATO. There can be no wrong statement here,” said Mr. Scheffer. Another clarifying question on the same topic slightly unbalanced the NATO Secretary General.

“In my opinion, this proposal is very clear and unquestionable. I can't add any more or less. In December, the ministers (of foreign affairs—Kommersant) will give their assessment. Period,” said Jaap de Hoop Scheffer irritably.

“I must add,” Viktor Yushchenko immediately picked up. “After its decision, NATO took upon itself the obligation that Ukraine would become a member of the alliance.”

"What the hell is this?"

After the departure of the Ukrainian delegation from Bucharest, the Russia-NATO Council began its work within the framework of the summit, in which Russian President Vladimir Putin took part. The protocol footage of this meeting was broadcast on large television screens installed in the press center, but all the work of the council took place behind closed doors. At the end of the meeting, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer came out to the media. But he suddenly interrupted communication with the press, stating only that an agreement had been reached regarding the transit of non-military cargo through Russian territory to support NATO operations in Afghanistan.

“We have issues on which our points of view differ. This is the expansion of NATO, the problem of independence in Kosovo, the adaptation of the CFE Treaty. “I would not say that we have not made a breakthrough on these problems,” Mr. Scheffer clarified, thereby making it clear that the “Russian factor” still took place in the decision-making on Ukraine and Georgia.

It was expected that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would comment on the results of the meeting on behalf of the Russian side. However, the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, came out to the journalists. Representatives of the Russian media reacted to his appearance with exclamations of “yes!” and applause. After greeting the audience, Mr. Putin noted the constructiveness of the conversation and almost immediately moved on to criticize NATO.

- The effectiveness of our cooperation (with the alliance - Kommersant) will depend on how much NATO countries take into account the interests of Russia. It is no secret that there are serious obstacles to the development of our relations. This is the ongoing expansion of NATO, the creation of military infrastructure on the territory of new members, the crisis around the CFE Treaty and Kosovo, plans to deploy elements of the US strategic missile defense system in Europe. The appearance of a powerful military bloc on our borders will be perceived in Russia as a direct threat to the security of our country,” said Mr. Putin. Thus, it became obvious that even nine months later, when the fate of Ukraine in NATO will be decided by the foreign ministers of the alliance countries, Russia will still be against it. While criticizing NATO expansion, Mr. Putin also mentioned Ukraine.

— If a country is a member of NATO, it claims to be considered democratic. How many countries are there in the world that no one denies a democratic system and that are not NATO members? Or Ukraine. If it had been accepted into NATO yesterday, it would have become democratic. It turns out that today it is not democratic. What nonsense?

Denis Kommersant-Popovich

Viktor Yushchenko walked to the top