Ukraine to join NATO, "discreet nod" for Moldova

Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko wants his country to be part of NATO but the voters are against the idea, polls show

BUCHAREST (Tiraspol Times) - In a move which would put troops from a NATO country inside Pridnestrovie, a top NATO official announced on Thursday that Ukraine will join the U.S.-led military bloc.

Speaking on NATO's long-held wish to include Georgia and Ukraine in the military alliance, NATO secretary general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer says that NATO salutes the joining aspirations of the two countries.

" - Georgia and Ukraine will become NATO members," Jaap de Hoop Scheffer says, adding that the Entry Action Plan is the next stage in the relation with those countries. "We agreed today that these countries will become members of NATO," he also said while specifically not setting a date for entry.

The announcement was made at Thursday's news conference by NATO’s secretary general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, at the organization's summit in Bucharest, Romania. He informed the press that immediate talks with Georgia and Ukraine are to be launched at the level of foreign ministers to eliminate "problems that could hinder the implementation of the plan."

During the summit Albania and Croatia were invited to join the alliance, along with Macedonia "as soon as its name problem is solved." (Macedonia is engaged in a diplomatic standoff with NATO member Greece over the rights to use the name of its country. Greece wants Macedonia to call itself something else.)

"Discreet nod" to Moldova

Applications from Georgia and Ukraine for full membership were given support at the summit, and will now be moved along in the process.

Behind the scenes, Moldova was also given a so-called "discreet nod" towards its aspirations of further European integration with both the EU and NATO. Moldova has already fulfilled the most common conditions that are required for NATO membership, including the 2007 signing a transit agreement which now allow troops and personnel full and unrestricted access across the country. The agreement covers soldiers from all NATO countries and specifically exclude Russians, which unlike other troops must apply for visas.

Among Pridnestrovie's two closest neighbors, Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin and Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko both participated personally in Bucharest for the NATO summit. As far as Moldova is concerned, NATO pledged to continue its long and close cooperation with the country.

With regards to Ukraine, President Viktor Yushchenko said that Ukraine will become a NATO member. This is despite opinion polls which consistently show that a majority of Ukraine's voters prefer neutrality and are opposed to NATO membership for their country.

" - If Ukraine nevertheless joins NATO, against the will of its population, it will mean that troops from a NATO country will be stationed here in Pridnestrovie," says Tiraspol based civil rights activist Petru Gladchi. "This is because Ukraine is one of the four countries which provide troops to take part in the multi-lateral peacekeeping operations in the demilitarized zone between PMR and Moldova."

EU membership linked to NATO requirement

In 2007, a U.S. proposal was rejected which aimed to change the current peacekeeping format by substituting the existing force with American troops.

In Ukraine, opponents of NATO membership say that NATO as a heavily undemocratic institution under the patronage of the United States. They also claim that it is kept alive by the interest of the members' military industries, and that it is in Ukraine's best interest to opt for a position as a neutral and peaceful country.

As a Canadian analyst points out, the strategy of Ukraine and Moldova is to link NATO membership to EU membership in order to convince the voters of these two countries to accept both. This is because, in general, membership of the European Union is viewed as significantly more attractive than membership in NATO.

" - This notion of a state having more success to eventually join the European Union by meeting all the preconditions laid out by NATO strongly resonates in the Eastern countries with considerable low levels of education and high levels of poverty exist," says Amy Miller, a NATO specialist who has written extensively on the issue.

" - Unsure of exactly what NATO does, or why it exists, different polls have been conducted in these excluded but hopeful countries. Overwhelmingly they have shown that the understanding by the residents of what is required for membership is low, and that most people have been mislead that should they wish to eventually join the 'Edenesque' land of the European Union, they must first make it into NATO," says Miller.

Ukraine's government is hopeful that it can turn the tide of public opinion and convince its citizens to accept NATO membership. To that end, it has established a permanent NATO center in Kiev, the capital, with a multi million dollar budget for carrying out pro-NATO lobbying and propaganda at a national level. A similar permanent NATO center is also currently functioning in Chisinau, the capital of Moldova.

Pridnestrovie, which to all practical effects functions as an independent country, was part of Ukraine in the past and is still home to a large Ukrainian minority. It is located on the border between Moldova and Ukraine. Before independence, it was part of Russia and Ukraine. It has never been part of Moldova at any time in history.

See also:
» Put Transdniestria under NATO occupation, Moldovans propose
» Romania's President: "We support NATO's cooperation with Moldova"
» Slavic Pridnestrovie is birthplace of ancient Ukraine