| Submit your comments on this article |
| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Ukraine says no longer insisting on NATO membership |
| 2022-03-09 |
| [ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he is no longer pressing for NATO membership for Ukraine, a delicate issue that was one of Russia's stated reasons for invading its pro-Western neighbor. In another apparent nod aimed at placating Moscow, Zelenskyy said he is open to “compromise” on the status of two breakaway pro-Russian territories that President Vladimir Putin recognized as independent just before unleashing the invasion on February 24. “I have cooled down regarding this question a long time ago after we understood that ... NATO is not prepared to accept Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said in an interview aired Monday night on ABC News. “The alliance is afraid of controversial things, and confrontation with Russia,” the president added. Referring to NATO membership, Zelenskyy said through an interpreter that he does not want to be president of a “country which is begging something on its knees.” Russia has said it does not want neighboring Ukraine to join NATO, the transatlantic alliance created at the start of the Cold War to protect Europe from the Soviet Union. In more recent years the alliance has expanded further and further east to take in former Soviet bloc countries, infuriating the Kremlin. Russia sees NATO enlargement as a threat, as it does the military posture of these new Western allies on its doorstep. Shortly before he shocked the world by ordering the invasion of Ukraine, Putin recognized as independent two separatist pro-Russian “republics” in eastern Ukraine -- Donetsk and Lugansk -- that have been at war with Kyiv since 2014. Putin now wants Ukraine, too, to recognize them as sovereign and independent. When ABC asked him about this Russian demand, Zelenskyy said he was open to dialogue. “I'm talking about security guarantees,” he said. He said these two regions “have not been recognized by anyone but Russia, these pseudo republics. But we can discuss and find the compromise on how these territories will live on.” “What is important to me is how the people in those territories are going to live who want to be part of Ukraine, who in Ukraine will say that they want to have them in,” Zelenskyy said. “So the question is more difficult than simply acknowledging them,” the president said. “This is another ultimatum and we are not prepared for ultimatums. What needs to be done is for President Putin to start talking, start the dialogue instead of living in the informational bubble without oxygen |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #16 Zelenskyy said he is no longer pressing for NATO membership for Ukraine Yeah, now that NATO stood him up on prom night. Pity we could not have arrived at this point more directly. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2022-03-09 21:13 |
| #15 Muck fake - drop the alias |
| Posted by: Frank G 2022-03-09 20:52 |
| #14 ima needa new scorecard Who's pitchin agin? |
| Posted by: Muck Fer Doo Fer U 2022-03-09 16:40 |
| #13 ^ wait what? So... Biden and Blinken slapped sanctions on Kolomoisky because they thought he was pro-Russian, and then they encouraged and supported Kolomoisky's protege Zelensky? WTF? |
| Posted by: Hunter Bidens Laptop 2022-03-09 12:47 |
| #12 Zelensky's (small) fortune is parked in Londongrad real estate and money-laundering vehicles domiciled in the British Virgin Islands. The Panama Papers confirmed that - despite his denials - Zelensky is tightly linked to corrupt Ukrainian bandit billionaire Igor Kolomoisky. That would be the same bastard the Biden admin hit with sanctions last year. #Shitshow |
| Posted by: No Fortunate Son 2022-03-09 12:13 |
| #11 Ukrainian President Zelenskyy‘s government comprises comedians, actors, entertainment executives, and mostly American foreigners. In addition 80% of military leadership are American, and 90% of Ukrain’s wealthy live in Europe or the United States. Zelensky himself is neither Russian, or Polish, he’s Jewish. Ukraine is a phoney ‘shadow country’ created to commit and profit from crime. |
| Posted by: Baldassarre 2022-03-09 11:56 |
| #10 Can't believe that Biden is done wagging the dog already. Maybe it's just Zelensky getting tired of being wagged. But I can't believe his claim that the alliance is afraid of controversial things and confrontation with Russia. Judging by the way Putin's army has performed in Ukraine, I don't believe that Poland needs to worry. |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2022-03-09 11:35 |
| #9 Maybe SEATO could work them in? |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2022-03-09 11:14 |
| #8 limited incursion FIFY |
| Posted by: Porthos 2022-03-09 11:12 |
| #7 Maybe he realized that if Team Brandon had been serious about this whole endeavor, the arming and treaty process would have been going on since before "they were confident in their intelligence" Russia organizing a military action. I seem to remember something about Russian boomers setting off back in November as first public real indicators. Or, at the least, caches of anti-tank weapons along routes of incursion, four weeks ago. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2022-03-09 11:09 |
| #6 There must be a polonium atom with his name on it somewhere. |
| Posted by: Cthulhu of Ryleh 2022-03-09 09:39 |
| #5 Take him out, the sooner the better |
| Posted by: No Fortunate Son 2022-03-09 09:33 |
| #4 It was never really about NATO. Turkey's a member and nobody's coming to their aid or giving them strategic advantage. It's about the EU, and it'll start again two years from now unless Zelensky is replaced. |
| Posted by: Cthulhu of Ryleh 2022-03-09 09:32 |
| #3 when is the last time the leadership and or powers that be of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA actually done the right thing for the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and ONLY for the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA? CANNOT REMEMBER HUH DID NOT THINK SO notice no k in AMERIKA! How are the special K forces today still playing nice and drinking together? |
| Posted by: Greng Black3494 2022-03-09 07:13 |
| #2 "This is another ultimatum and we are not prepared for ultimatums." ...says the little man who's agreeing now to every key ultimatum made. Why did we hitch our wagon to this little prick? For what? So that China could take our place in the world? Regime change now. In Washington and Kiev both. Btw the offer to assassinate Zelensky if the FSB assassinates Putin still stands. |
| Posted by: No Fortunate Son 2022-03-09 04:45 |
| #1 Oh fuck off, Little Big Man. Take Victoria Nuland, Pyatt, Jake Sullivan and the whole slapstick troupe with you. Just to clarify: So now that little shit whom Blinken Wanken and Nod(ding Off) encouraged to believe he could receive NATO membership is saying he doesn't want NATO membership. And his armies are capitulating all over the Donbas. And his absurd demand to take back Crimea's been quietly memory-holed. So we're back to Minsk II. Only now there are thousands of dead Ukrainians and millions of Americans and Europeans are now significantly poorer. And will be for a long time, maybe forever. What exactly was this all about, then? Biggest foreign policy fuckup in US history. Depose these shitheads before they destroy us all. November can't arrive soon enough. |
| Posted by: No Fortunate Son 2022-03-09 03:56 |