First Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Ukraine should not join NATO, and now that the Ukrainian state allegedly should not cooperate with the Alliance at all. This is in fact an ultimatum.
This was stated by the head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Foreign Policy Oleksandr Merezhko in a commentary to RBC-Ukraine.
He believes that Putin is thinking in terms of historical precedents and considers this situation in terms of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
"Then the U.S. deployed missiles on the territory of Turkey, in response Khrushchev tried to deploy nuclear warheads in Cuba. It seems to me that Putin is using this precedent. He has clearly stated what he demands. He has clearly formulated his demands, the main one being that Ukraine should not become a NATO member," Merezhko said.
According to him, the Kremlin's "red line" is constantly changing.
"At first it was that Ukraine should not join NATO, and now Putin and the Russian foreign minister say that Ukraine should not cooperate with NATO in any way. In fact, what Putin is saying is an ultimatum to NATO and it sounds something like this: if you don't meet our demands, we will unleash a war against Ukraine," he said.
But here, too, the West, he said, cannot back down and reverse, because repeatedly the U.S. has said that Ukraine has the right to join NATO and has promised this prospect since 2008, since the Bucharest summit.
"But on the other hand, Putin also needs some kind of victory, because he has already unwound the mechanism of military propaganda and hysteria inside the country, statements in the international arena have become so radical that he too cannot back down. He can lose face, but he cannot afford to lose either," said Merezhko.
