I sometimes hear people say that Russia was forced to attack Ukraine because Ukrainians wanted to join NATO. Those people also often say that NATO promised it would not expand to the east but later broke this promise. And this, allegedly, is the reason why Russia keeps attacking its neighbors. If you have ever heard people say something like that, please know that this is not true. And it will take me less than five minutes to prove with facts that both statements are false.
First, let’s have a look at the timeline of events. Russia first invaded Ukraine in February 2014 by occupying the Crimea peninsula. At that moment, Ukraine was a neutral country by law and expressed no intention of joining NATO whatsoever. For instance, during the Revolution of Dignity, the protestors insisted on Ukraine joining the EU, not NATO. It was only in autumn 2014, after many months of war, that Ukraine abandoned neutrality.
So what came first? Russia attacking Ukraine or Ukraine wanting to join NATO? The answer is clear. Had Russia not threatened Ukraine’s existence, there would be no reason for our country to seek collective security. So please, do not repeat the lie that “Russia attacked because Ukraine wanted to join NATO.” This does not correspond with the facts.
Now, let’s have a look at the story of NATO allegedly promising not to expand to the east. If you ask people who say this, when exactly such a promise was made and who made it, most of them will not be able to provide a clear answer. Spoiler: because no such promise has ever been made and the whole story is a Russian fairytale.
Those more sophisticated will tell you that the promise was made to the President of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachov. They may even refer to the 1990 U.S.-Soviet negotiations on the reunification of Germany. Again, let’s consider the timeline. In summer 1990, when the talks were held, the Soviet analogue of NATO, the Warsaw Pact, still existed. Its dissolution, let alone the Soviet Union’s dissolution, was not on the cards; no one even talked about it or imagined it. It was only next year, in 1991, that the Warsaw Pact, and later the USSR, quite unexpectedly ceased to exist.
Now explain to me just how the very issue could be even discussed in the summer of 1990. It is not surprising that Mikhail Gorbachov later himself refuted this falsehood. When asked by a journalist whether any such promise had been made, he said this was a myth.
Now, let’s look at it from another perspective. How could NATO even promise anything like that? Initially, it is not NATO that decides which country joins it. Countries themselves need to want it and actually, the membership criteria are very difficult. It requires a lot of political will and reform. All the NATO members that joined it after 1991 really wanted to be part of it. Their people wanted this.
And here comes the most uncomfortable question for Russia. Why were all of the nations that had been part of the Soviet Union or the Socialist Bloc so eager and desperate to join NATO? Well, maybe because in three decades Russia has invaded or incited war in at least three of its neighbors: Moldova, Georgia, and Ukraine? At the same time, Russia has not dared to invade any of its NATO neighbors. See the pattern?
The only reason for countries in the vicinity of Russia to seek NATO membership has always been and remains the need to protect their people from Russia. Therefore, Moscow has only itself to blame for the fact that all of the Central European and Baltic nations ran away from it and hid under the NATO umbrella as quickly as they could.
Don’t let Russian officials or their supporters in the West fool you. Russia attacked Ukraine not because NATO “expanded to the east” or because Ukraine “wanted to join NATO.” Russia attacked because it denies Ukraine’s right to exist and wants to conquer our land and kill our people. It is through our shared strength that we can and must stop Russia and put an end to its aggressive plans for the rest of Europe. For this to happen, keep supporting Ukraine and don’t buy Russian lies.
Russia was forced to attack Ukraine because Ukrainians wanted to join NATO?
NATO promised it would not expand to the east but later broke this promise?
It will take me less than five minutes to prove with facts that both statements are false. pic.twitter.com/5rjC9E1jzL
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) March 6, 2024
