Brussels, Belgium – Ten months into Russia’s warfare in Ukraine, the confrontation between the Kremlin and the West continues.
Earlier this week, at a NATO assembly in Bucharest, Romania, the alliance’s chief Jens Stoltenberg accused Russia of utilizing “winter as a weapon of warfare”.
The climate in Ukraine is close to freezing, and Russian missile assaults on essential infrastructure have left tens of millions with out electrical energy and water.
On the sidelines of the NATO assembly in Romania, Ukraine’s international minister Dmytro Kuleba advised reporters his nation wanted “air defence, – IRIS, Hawks, Patriots – and transformers (for our vitality wants)”- wants that some members of the world’s largest navy alliance have pledged to ship.
In the meantime, Russian international minister Sergey Lavrov accused the US and NATO of direct participation within the warfare by supplying weapons to Kyiv and coaching Ukrainian troopers.
Al Jazeera spoke to Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO’s chief from 2009 till 2014, and a former Danish prime minister. He’s at the moment the founding chairman of Rasmussen International, a think-tank.
Al Jazeera: It’s been 10 months because the warfare started. How has NATO’s relevance elevated over this era?
Anders Rasmussen: Firstly, I feel it’s vital to emphasize that NATO as an alliance will not be part of this warfare. Secondly, I’ve been impressed and happy with the unity amongst NATO allies in supporting Ukraine over the previous few months. I feel their coordination in sending navy assist to Ukraine has labored fairly effectively.
Al Jazeera: With the warfare barrelling into 2023, what extra ought to NATO be doing to assist Ukraine militarily? Does the alliance have sufficient weapons to assist Ukraine subsequent yr?
Rasmussen: NATO ought to step up the supply of weapons to Ukraine. The Ukrainians have demonstrated excessive effectivity in using the weapons they’ve already obtained and if NATO and its allies proceed this supply, then the Ukrainians can really win this warfare in opposition to the disorganised Russian navy forces, who’re utilizing old school navy tools.
NATO must also ship all of the weapons wanted to shut the skies over Ukraine by offering anti-aircraft tools, anti-missile, anti-drone capabilities and long-range missiles.
Al Jazeera: Is NATO membership nonetheless on the playing cards for Ukraine?
Rasmussen: It won’t be a simple course of however on the current NATO international ministers’ assembly in Bucharest, they declared that Ukraine will change into a member of NATO. In order that’s a transparent aim. Furthermore, it’s additionally said within the Ukrainian structure that it’s the ambition of Ukraine to hitch NATO. However the course of will nonetheless take time.
Within the meantime, Ukraine wants extra safety ensures. So in September, I delivered a plan to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on how NATO and its allies can assure safety for Ukraine sooner or later. It’s referred to as the Kyiv Safety Compact which I developed in shut cooperation together with his chief of employees, Andriy Yermak. We at the moment are within the technique of garnering signatures amongst international locations in favour of this safety compact which seeks to assist Ukraine additional.
Al Jazeera: Will Finland and Sweden have the ability to be a part of the alliance, regardless of the present challenges posed by Turkey and Hungary, the 2 nations that are but to ratify the memberships?
Rasmussen: It’s difficult, however Hungary will most likely ratify Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership in the beginning of subsequent yr, in accordance with statements from Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
So solely Turkey’s ratification is lacking and that’s clearly a problem. However I do know that in negotiations between Sweden, Finland and Turkey, progress has been made. So I’m assured that Finland and Sweden will change into members of NATO.
Al Jazeera: How ought to NATO reply to accusations from Russia, which alleges the alliance is straight concerned within the warfare by supporting Ukraine?
Rasmussen: In accordance with worldwide legislation, a rustic that has been attacked by one other nation has the correct to self-defence and likewise request help from companions and allies to assist on this course of. So Ukraine and NATO aren’t going in opposition to the legislation.
As an alternative, Russia is violating worldwide legislation by committing warfare crimes and invading different international locations, which NATO and the remainder of the world shouldn’t enable.
Al Jazeera: On a extra private degree, in your final time period as NATO chief in 2014, Russia annexed Crimea. How did you cope with this again then? Are there classes to be realized now?
Rasmussen: 2014 was very difficult for me. I belonged to the camp of people that wished to ship a stronger response to Russia after their unlawful annexation of Crimea.
However selections are taken by consensus at NATO so we couldn’t transcend what we had determined as an alliance. However I cannot give myself a free move from the errors made. We reacted too slowly and in a a lot milder method in 2014.
We did ship Russian President Vladimir Putin a message that he couldn’t simply take land away from Ukraine by imposing a couple of sanctions. However these had been very delicate. Had we despatched a stronger message again then, we’d have been in a position to keep away from the outright assault on Ukraine on the twenty fourth of February this yr.
Furthermore, after I grew to become secretary-general of NATO again in 2009, it was my prime precedence to develop what I referred to as a strategic partnership between Russia and NATO.
I completed {that a} yr after Russia attacked Georgia in 2008. Seen in hindsight, I feel it was a mistake. We should always have realised that Russia was not a strategic associate, however a strategic adversary. We misjudged Russia and underestimated the ambitions and brutality of Putin.
My plea now’s that we should always not repeat these errors sooner or later. That’s why I’m arguing for a extremely sturdy response to Russian unlawful aggression in opposition to Ukraine.
Al Jazeera: You’re at the moment within the US talking to senators in Washington, DC, about supporting Ukraine additional. You’ve held related discussions with EU officers. Have talks within the West included pushing Russia and Ukraine to the negotiation desk? Do you see that occuring within the coming months?
Rasmussen: Some weeks in the past, we heard rumours that there have been sure camps within the US that pushed for peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia. However I feel that was a giant mistake as a result of on this method, the West weakens its personal place by pushing Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy to have interaction in untimely peace negotiations.
It’s as much as Zelenskyy to find out when the time is ripe to have interaction in negotiations with Russia. However nobody believes that Putin would have interaction sincerely in such peace negotiations. That will solely be a lure.
Within the West, we’ve one factor to proceed doing and that’s to make sure the supply of weapons and financial help to Ukraine stay constant, in order that they’re within the strongest place to barter with Russia when the time is true.
