At the Bucharest Nine (B9) summit in Bratislava on June 6, 2023, leaders of Eastern European countries discussed with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg practical steps for military support to Ukraine. They said they had paved the way for relevant decisions at a next month’s NATO summit in Vilnius. What are these measures and what can we expect from their implementation to the population of the B9 countries and the whole of Europe?
If we pay attention to the statements of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and his predecessor Anders Fogh Rasmussen after the B9 summit, the following conclusion can be made: NATO is preparing Eastern European countries for direct participation in combat operations in Ukraine.
Stoltenberg, in an interview at the Center for a New American Security on June 7, 2023, stated that “the most urgent task now is to ensure that President Putin does not win this war and that Ukraine prevails”. He also said, “there are also discussions and consultations between Ukraine and some Allies on bilateral arrangements”.
The Guardian wrote on the same day about what may be behind these words, quoting Rasmussen. He said “I wouldn’t exclude the possibility that Poland would engage even stronger in this context on a national basis and be followed by the Baltic states, maybe including the possibility of troops on the ground”.
Thus, we are talking about the likelihood that a group of NATO countries will send troops to Ukraine on the basis of alleged bilateral agreements with Kiev. However, a decision to send troops to a state in armed conflict with a third party by members of the alliance can hardly be taken without discussion and approval within NATO.
After at least one NATO member enters Ukraine, all Europeans will have to forget about a peaceful life. It will not be a proxy alliance war with Russia or any European country fighting on the side of Ukraine. It will be the beginning of a full-scale war in Europe, in which NATO will involve all European states step by step.
There is only one way to prevent a pan-European war: through negotiations between Kiev and Moscow. The leaders of six African countries gave Europe such a chance. African leaders, led by South African President Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa, declared their readiness to mediate between Ukraine and Russia.
The only way to ensure the success of such negotiations is to exclude NATO from participating in them. It should be remembered that it was the US-led alliance that derailed negotiations between Kiev and Moscow last year, when the Americans and their allies declared their readiness to arm the Ukrainians until total victory on the battlefield. Today it looks more like Washington-led NATO is ready to supply Kiev with weapons to the last Ukrainian, and tomorrow it will be at war with Russia to the last European.