ukraine has the peculiar idea that it has “the right to join nato”

“No one can tell Kiev which way to join NATO”
Christoph Schiltz, Die Welt, Nov 28 2014

BRUSSELS – In Ukraine are growing doubts as to the policy of the German Federal government. Kiev is particularly frustrated about statements made by foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD) at the beginning of this week which rejected the idea of NATO membership for Ukraine. The Ambassador of Ukraine to the European Union in Brussels, Konstantin Yeliseev, told Die Welt:

I can’t understand why the German foreign Minister Steinmeier wants to exclude NATO membership for Ukraine. This remark Mr Steinmeier made a few days ago is surprising and disappointing. Each partner country, including Germany, should respect the choice of a sovereign state such as Ukraine. No country has the right to tell Ukraine which way to join NATO, and thus secure a better future. The prospect of NATO membership for Ukraine would help political and economic reforms, the security forces and the military to modernize and better European and transatlantic values.

On Monday, Poroshenko announced that his fellow countrymen should decide on NATO membership in a referendum. Moscow has warned Kiev for a long time against steps in the direction of NATO, and called for Ukraine to retain the existing statutory provisions as “non-aligned European state.” Steinmeier’s rejection of NATO accession for Ukraine is largely a view shared by France’s Foreign Minister, Laurent Fabius. But not only the resistance of Berlin against a future membership in the Western defence alliance, concerns the government in Kiev. Ambassador Yeliseev says:

I would like to appeal to Germany as soon as possible to ratify the Association Agreement between the EU and Ukraine. It will not help us, having signed an agreement on political, judicial and economic reforms with the EU, if important countries such as Germany will not ratify it. This will strengthen the position of Russia and weaken Ukraine.

So far, according to Yeliseev, only six EU countries, mostly from Eastern Europe, have adopted the agreement. The former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine called on the international community to be “proactive and creative” in dealing with Russia. Specifically, Yeliseev demanded:

The EU needs to take Russia by surprise. Ukraine needs more military support from the EU countries, including Germany. I’m not talking about heavy weapons. What we urgently need are not deadly, but only defensive-oriented weapons. There are currently between 5,000 and 10,000 regular Russian soldiers in the Eastern Ukraine. They have at least 600 heavy weapons, including tanks. Ukraine needs support in this unequal war with Russia.

Yeliseev reinforced the request of his government for tougher sanctions:

It would be important to have a strong signal to send to Russia, and now to tighten the sanctions against Moscow. The expansion of export bans for high-tech goods and the exclusion of Russia from the international payment system ‘SWIFT’ would be a strong signal to the Kremlin leadership. Overall, the West should take a resolute approach to stopping the Russian aggression. It needs clear and generous support of Ukraine, which would represent the best of all sanctions against Russia.