Keith Kellogg, the envoy for Ukraine of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, has affirmed that Russia’s concerns around a possible expansion of NATO to the eastern flank is “fair” and has reiterated that Washington considers that the entrance of Ukraine into the alliance “is not on the table.”
“It’s a fair concern,” Kellogg said during an interview with the American television network ABC. “We have already said that, for us, the entry of Ukraine into NATO is not on the table, and we are not the only country that says it,” he said, in the midst of the United States efforts to boost a peace agreement between both parties.
“I can probably say four NATO countries (which do not want to consider the entry of kyiv) and the support of the 32 to enter NATO is necessary,” he explained, while confirmed that “this is one of the issues that Russia will raise” as a condition for any peace dialog.
He has also revealed that Moscow “not only refers to Ukraine, but also Georgia and Moldova”, given the “security concerns” that this situation would mean for Russia, although it has emphasized that any decision by the United States about an expansion of NATO would be in Trump’s hands, since “it is a presidential decision.”
Despite this, the Polish news channel He has remarked that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, will not follow what he wants most. “Putin’s demand that NATO provides written guarantees so as not to expand the alliance to the east has been rejected,” the Moscow Timesciting NATO anonymous officials and diplomats.
Putin’s request was not even taken into consideration, since it was not included in the agenda of any official NATO meeting. A source said that Putin’s demands could be just an “academic discussion.”
The North Atlantic Alliance makes decisions by consensus. Putin’s request is difficult to implement, since the decision to join any alliance is a sovereign right of states, collected in international treaties, have explained. Putin demanded to rule out NATO’s expansion to the east, thus preventing Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova from joining the alliance.
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