Stoltenberg suggests Ukraine could be granted NATO membership even with territories occupied by Russia

Ukraine could potentially join NATO even if parts of its territory remained occupied by Russia, the alliance's former Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in an interview on Oct. 4.

One of the main arguments against granting Ukraine membership at the current time is that NATO's Article 5 mutual defense clause would immediately draw the alliance into a direct war with Russia.

But speaking to the Financial Times, Stoltenberg suggested there could be ways to get around this if the Ukrainian territory considered part of NATO was "not necessarily the internationally recognized border."

"When there is a will, there are ways to find the solution. But you need a line which defines where Article 5 is invoked, and Ukraine has to control all the territory until that border," he said.

As of late August, Russia was in control of around 27% of Ukrainian territory, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts are partially occupied by Russian troops. Russia claims to have annexed the whole territory of those regions despite not controlling two regional capitals — Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.  Moscow also controls all of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula.

Stoltenberg drew on historical and current examples to illustrate that certain compromises or security guarantees could be made to ensure Ukraine's protection.

"West Germany regarded East Germany as part of the bigger Germany. They didn’t have an embassy in East Berlin. But NATO was, of course, only protecting West Germany," he said.

"Again, it is always very dangerous to compare because no parallels are 100 percent correct, but the U.S. has security guarantees to Japan. But they don’t cover the Kuril (Islands), which Japan regards as Japanese territory, controlled by Russia."

Ukraine applied for NATO membership in September 2022 but has yet to receive a formal invitation.

Despite high expectations in Kyiv, the last two allied summits brought only new steps toward deepening Ukraine-NATO cooperation and a declaration that the country's membership path is "irreversible."

Earlier on Oct. 1, however, FT reported, citing an unnamed Western official, that U.S. President Joe Biden may agree to advance the status of Ukraine's NATO membership bid before leaving office in January.

Zelensky presented his five-point victory plan to Biden at the White House on Sept. 26. The plan includes military and diplomatic components, including Ukraine's invitation to join NATO, but the full details of the peace framework have not yet been publicized.

According to the information obtained by the Kyiv Independent, Kyiv had planned to ask for NATO membership within the months, not years.

In his recent interview with FT, Stoltenberg also said that Ukraine’s allies should have supplied the country with more arms before the full-scale invasion started to prevent it.

"If there’s anything I, in a way, regret and see much more clearly now is that we should have provided Ukraine with much more military support much earlier," he said.

"I think we all have to admit, we should have given them more weapons pre-invasion. And we should have given them more advanced weapons, faster, after the invasion.

"I take my part of the responsibility."

Stoltenberg stepped down as NATO general secretary earlier this week with Mark Rutte now taking up the role.

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