NATO Must Extend an Invitation for Membership to Ukraine at the Next Summit in Washington – Michael McFaul

Next summer, at the summit in Washington, the North Atlantic Alliance must invite Ukraine to its ranks.

That opinion was expressed by Michael McFaul, Director of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University, at the Yalta European Strategy (YES) Annual Meeting “The Future is Being Decided in Ukraine”, organised by YES in partnership with the Victor Pinchuk Foundation.

 “I think that at the summit in Washington, NATO must give Ukraine an invitation to membership. We are not talking about membership, which the Americans might not support because of the threat of the US being drawn into the war. We're talking instead about an invitation to membership, followed by a membership acquisition that may take 2-3 years,” noted Michael McFaul.

 He emphasized that, in principle, the issue of inviting Ukraine to NATO membership has already been finalised; it only remains to decide when it will happen.

 “It's not a question of 'if', but of 'when.' In my opinion, it should happen next summer,” emphasised Michael McFaul.

 The Director of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University is convinced that after the war, Ukraine will be a key element of European and world security.

 “Now Ukraine is an importer of security because there is a war going on. However, in the future, Ukraine will be an exporter of security for all of Europe and the whole world, as it will have the strongest army and military-industrial complex,” Michael McFaul summarised.