Moscow to NATO: Scrap Ukraine’s Membership Path or Face “Poisoned” Europe

Russia has called on NATO to formally retract its 2008 commitment to granting Ukraine future membership in the alliance and for Ukraine to adopt a policy of neutrality, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on February 18.

While Russia has long opposed Ukraine’s accession to NATO, Zakharova said that simply blocking membership is no longer sufficient.

Zakharova said in response to a question from Reuters. “The alliance must disavow the Bucharest promises of 2008.”

“It is worth noting that a refusal to accept Kyiv into NATO is not enough now,” Zakharova said in response to a question from Reuters. “The alliance must disavow the Bucharest promises of 2008 . “Otherwise, this problem will continue to poison the atmosphere on the European continent.”

She added that Ukraine should return to the principles outlined in its 1990 Declaration of Sovereignty , in which it pledged to maintain permanent neutrality, refrain from joining military blocs, and remain nuclear-free.

“What Ukraine needs to do is return to the origins of its own statehood and follow the letter and spirit of the documents,” she said. “‘This would be the best guarantee of its security.’ She argued that neither NATO membership nor Western military support, including peacekeeping missions, could provide Ukraine with the same level of security.

At a summit in Bucharest in April 2008, NATO declared that Ukraine and Georgia would eventually become members but did not provide a timeline or a clear path to accession. The statement reflected a compromise between the United States, which supported their membership, and France and Germany, which feared that such a move would provoke Russia.

In a related development, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that U.S. efforts to hasten the war’s end risk repeating Afghanistan’s 2021 withdrawal.