Moscow sees a ban on Ukraine's entry to NATO as a key condition in resolving the Russia-Ukraine war, the pro-Kremlin news agency Interfax reported on Jan. 24, citing Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko.
"And will not only seek ironclad international guarantees that will prevent Ukraine’s membership in NATO in any form, but we will also insist it will become a policy of the alliance itself," Grushko said on air on the Rossiya-24 television channel.
The statement comes amid expectations of peace talks in 2025 as U.S. President Donald Trump pledged to bring Russia and Ukraine to the negotiating table and end the full-scale war that has been ongoing for nearly three years.
"For us, this is one of the key elements of a possible deal on the conflict in Ukraine, this relates to the elimination of the root causes of this conflict," Grushko said about putting an end to Ukraine’s NATO prospects.
The Russian deputy minister lashed out against the NATO Bucharest Summit’s resolution from 2008 that Ukraine and Georgia would eventually become members of the alliance. Grushko called the statement "catastrophic for European security" and said a failure to withdraw it would create an "unacceptable ambiguity" for Russia.
Despite the allied pledge, Kyiv and Tbilisi failed to obtain the Membership Action Plan at the summit.
Ukraine officially submitted its application to NATO in September 2022 in the wake of the full-scale invasion. Though pledging that Ukraine’s path toward membership is "irreversible" at the allied summit in Washington in 2024, NATO members have yet to extend a formal invitation.
Russian officials have previously listed Ukraine’s possible entry into NATO as one of the justifications for launching the full-scale invasion.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said that several NATO countries – namely the U.S., Germany, Hungary, and Slovakia – continue to oppose Ukraine’s membership but voiced his belief that Trump could sway all the members should he decide to support Kyiv’s entry.
There is little evidence that the new Trump administration would be more open to accepting Ukraine into NATO than former U.S. President Joe Biden. Trump even attacked Biden over alleged support for Kyiv's aspirations, claiming it provoked Russia's full-scale invasion.
Kateryna Hodunova
(Updated: )
