Biden can reconsider Ukraine's application for NATO membership status before leaving office – FT

The Financial Times has quoted an unnamed Western official as saying that US President Joe Biden may agree to change the status of Ukraine's application for NATO membership before he leaves office in January 2025.

Source: Financial Times

Details: President Joe Biden will preside over a meeting between Ukraine and its allies in Germany on 12 October. This became known after talks between Zelenskyy and Biden in the United States.

Quote: "A western official briefed on Zelenskyy’s talks in Washington said there were tentative signs that Biden might agree to advance the status of Ukraine’s Nato membership bid before he leaves office in January."

More details: The Financial Times did not specify what this "advancement" might entail.

Leaving the US this weekend, Zelenskyy said that October would be "decision time".

President Joe Biden publicly supports Ukraine's NATO membership, but has so far resisted active steps to bring Ukraine closer, such as an invitation to join the Alliance.

NATO membership remains a key goal for Ukraine, but very few of the Alliance's 32 members believe it is possible without a full, lasting ceasefire and a clear line on the map defining how much of Ukraine's territory is covered by the Alliance's mutual defence clause. 

Some have suggested a model of West Germany's membership in the Alliance, which lasted for more than three decades before the fall of the Berlin Wall and reunification with the eastern regions.

"The West German model is gaining traction particularly in the White House, which has been the most sceptical about NATO membership," comments Jeremy Shapiro, Head of the Washington Office of the European Council on Foreign Relations.

"Land for NATO membership is the only game in town, everyone knows it. Nobody will say it out loud . . . but it’s the only strategy on the table," said an unnamed senior Western official. 

At the same time, many consider it unlikely that Russia will accept Ukraine's accession to NATO and its rapprochement with the West. 

"The most important thing for us is security guarantees. Proper ones. Otherwise it won’t end the war; it will just trigger another one," says a Ukrainian official.

Background:

• The new NATO secretary general, Mark Rutte, said that he would seek to fulfil the Alliance's commitments to Ukraine, including the irreversibility of its path to NATO membership.
• In the summer, Joe Biden stated that peace in Ukraine meant ensuring that Russia could never occupy Ukraine and that NATO membership was not necessary for this.

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