In 2005, immediately after the Orange Revolution, Ukraine had a chance to get a MAP in NATO.
This was stated by the Ukrainian diplomat Oleksandr Chaly.
In 2008, after the Bucharest summit, where Kiev was denied MAP, during a conversation with President Viktor Yushchenko, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Ukraine’s integration into NATO is a threat to the national security of the West.
On the air of the Ukraine 24 TV channel, Chaly said that after 2005 Kiev could have received the MAP, but the circumstances were different, and the West announced the premature aspirations of the Ukrainian state.
“We had only one moment, a window of opportunity, right after the Orange Revolution, early 2005. If we then clearly stated that we want the MAP, we could get it. However, NATO and its leaders convinced the leadership of Ukraine, above all the Minister of Foreign Affairs, that it was necessary to wait, and let’s do it in a year or two. At that time, the Russian Federation did not yet consider NATO as a red line. And in 2008, while I was present in Bucharest (at the NATO summit), I was an adviser to President Yushchenko, and we did everything possible and impossible to get the MAP, it was the moment of truth for our relations”, – Chaly said.
According to him, in 2008, when NATO announced for the first time that Ukraine would become a member of the Allanas, and the state was still denied the MAP, a conversation between President Viktor Yushchenko and German Chancellor Angela Merkel took place.
She said that Europe sees a threat to their national security in Ukraine’s joining the North Atlantic Alliance. That is why no specific mechanisms for the entry of the Ukrainian state into NATO have been implemented.
“However, when what happened, and the Bucharest formula was what we got it, it was a certain success. For the first time, it was clearly stated that Ukraine would become a NATO member. But our MAP was denied. And then immediately on the initiative of Merkel, a meeting with Yushchenko took place, and he asked her why she was against it. And she had a concrete answer: Mr. President, as long as your membership in NATO is a greater threat to our security than your non-membership, until then I will defend national interests. By this time, nothing has changed”, – Chaly stressed.