”Membership of Kiev and Tbilisi in the alliance conflicts with interests of NATO”

Former Chairman of the NATO Military Commitee Harald Kujat is against the admission of Ukraine and Georgia into NATO. According to German general, membership of Ukraine and Georgia in the alliance conflicts with the interests of NATO and the candidates themselves.The Alliance should be expanded in the event that if it meets its own interests as well as the interests of the acceding States, said the former chairman of the Military Commitee of NATO in an interview to Deutsche Welle.

 

This cannot be affirming in the case of Ukraine and Georgia, Harald Kujat believes.

 

In his view membership into NATO should not lead to a worsening of the internal political contradictions and complication of situation in the country-member of the alliance. But that is exactly what could happen in Georgia and Ukraine.

 

“Do not make NATO as an Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, since such a structure the OSCE is already exists on the continent”, Harald Kujat remarked.

 

Earlier the official spokesman of NATO said “I think both countries will not be invited to the Membership Action Plan (MAP) at the Bucharest Summit”.

 

Joining the MAP is the first step on a long road to eventual entry into the North Atlantic Alliance.

 

Press Secretary of NATO James Appathurai said at a press conference after an informal meeting of leaders from the member states late on April 2 that the discussion focused mainly on the timing of giving MAP to Georgia and Ukraine and that the discussions would continue early on April 3.

“General sense was that Membership Action Plan for Georgia and Ukraine is a matter of not whether, but when. That was a shared sense around the table,” he said.

President Bush endorsed the plans of Kiev and Tbilisi to join NATO, but France and Germany are still opposing to this.

 

Paris and Berlin have insisted that neither Ukraine nor Georgia has yet met all the requirements of NATO for candidate countries. In addition, France and Germany believe that such a decision could lead to unnecessarily complicate relations with Moscow.

 

“The White House won’t take as defeat the NATO refusal to admit Georgia and Ukraine to the MAP in Bucharest”, a top-ranked official announced.

 

“It’s not a question of defeat. I think the question will be if the alliance can come together and show that the door remains open,” a senior U.S. official said in Bucharest after the NATO leaders failed to agree on admitting Ukraine and Georgia to NATO’s Membership Action Plan.

 

Meanwhile, question is being discussed in Bucharest on the need to send more troops to Afghanistan.

 

Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, confirmed on Thursday in Bucharest that France will send a battalion and special forces to Afghanistan to join the Nato mission there.

 

It is anticipated that the troops will be sent to the eastern regions of Afghanistan that would allow the United States to redeploy troops in the province of Kandahar. In Kandahar, the most violent clashes are taking place with the Taliban.

 

Earlier, Canada threatened to withdraw of 1 thousand of their occupants from the province in the south of Afghanistan in the event that other countries-members of NATO won’t send reinforcements there.