Ukraine did not receive clear statements about the invitation to NATO at the summit in Vilnius (held on July 11-12) due to the position of Germany and pressure from Berlin on the White House, but managed to achieve minor changes in the final communiqué, Newsweek writes citing sources.
According to the magazine, the wording of NATO’s final communiqué, which is published after each major summit, is worked out by member state diplomats in the months and weeks leading up to the actual meetings. Ahead of the Vilnius summit, the decision not to invite Ukraine to the alliance had already been made, but Kiev insisted that a line be added to the final communiqué saying that “the assistance that is and will be provided to Ukraine is not a substitute for membership,” a source close to the administration of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told Newsweek.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron eventually agreed to amend the communiqué, but the United States opposed the idea, noting that it was a “red line” for them. Newsweek writes that at the same time, the Germans pushed the Joe Biden administration to disagree with this wording, although they told representatives of Kyiv that it suited them.
A source close to Zelenskiy’s administration told Newsweek that the language of the communiqué was “weaker” at first. In particular, the phrase “NATO membership” was not there – it was replaced by the words “included in the Euro-Atlantic community.”
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https://www.rbc.ru/politics/23…
Source: Rosbalt
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