Ukraine, once a keen suitor of NATO, has abandoned its aim to be a member of the alliance, its new leader said on Thursday, in a move that should bring relief to many western capitals, as well as Russia.
“Ukraine will continue developing its relations with the alliance, but the question of membership is being removed from the agenda,” the Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kostyantyn Gryshchenko, was quoted by the Russian state-owned Interfax news agency as saying.
“Entry into NATO is not realistic for our country today,” Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych said. “NATO conditions would require us to have the support of the majority of the population.”
NATO membership was pursued, with the enthusiastic support of former US president George W. Bush’s administration and the Labour government in Britain, by the pro-western former president Viktor Yushchenko. This was despite a lack of enthusiasm inside Ukraine and concern in NATO.
Ukraine was considered a potential NATO partner along with Georgia. Concern in many NATO countries increased in 2008 when Russia responded with military force to a Georgian attack on South Ossetia, an enclave in Georgia.
At a summit in Bucharest in April 2008, alliance leaders agreed that Ukraine “will become a NATO member” in the future, but added that it was up to the Ukrainian people and their elected leaders to determine the country’s path.
Since then, most NATO countries, including the US and Britain, have realized membership of Ukraine and Georgia would provoke conflict, notably with Russia. This month, the Albright report on NATO’s new strategic concept made no mention of prospective Ukrainian membership.
Interfax quoted Gryshchenko as saying NATO membership did not have the support of the majority of the population and had a “destructive effect” on policy.
Yanukovych came to power in February and has moved the former Soviet republic back closer to Moscow in several policy areas. Last month, he reached agreement with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on extending the lease on the Russian Black Sea fleet base in Sevastopol for 25 years. They also reached agreement on gas prices.
A dispute over gas price rises led Russia to cut supplies to Ukraine in 2006 in a move that caused concern across Europe. The gas was switched back on only after Ukraine agreed to pay almost twice the former price. In January last year, Russia again cut supplies in a row over unpaid fees.
Yanukovich has told Moscow that Ukraine would avoid membership of any military blocs. He has not responded to Medvedev’s invitation to join the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization. Gryshchenko suggested Ukraine would continue to take part in military and civil emergency programs with NATO.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was