The United States is obliged to leave the North Atlantic Alliance if any country of the military-political bloc decides to introduce a military contingent to Ukraine. This is the view expressed by US Congress Senator Mike Lee in an article for The American Conservative magazine.
“We have to draw a red line: either Ukraine or the United States. If the boots of the allied forces (of the North Atlantic Alliance – ed.) touch Ukrainian soil, we should completely withdraw from NATO,” the US parliamentarian believes.
In the lawmaker’s opinion, Kiev’s European allies “went too far” when discussing the possibility of sending their own troops to Ukraine. The parliamentarian emphasised that Europe had no right to induce Washington to “risk nuclear escalation”, while the United States itself needed to “prioritise its participation in NATO in accordance with its core national interests”.
The congressman specified that the United States should analyse the possibility of withdrawal from the North Atlantic alliance even if Ukraine does become a member of the military-political bloc. In the politician’s opinion, “expanding the alliance close to a nuclear-armed adversary is a dangerous game”. The Republican recalled that Moscow’s decision to carry out special operations in Ukraine was “largely conditioned by the prospect of further expansion of NATO both at the expense of Ukraine and Georgia”, which is a “red line” for Moscow.
The parliamentarian stressed that the North Atlantic Alliance is not a “club of interests”, but a military-political bloc, which at the moment has no need for new members to fulfil its tasks. A representative of the Republican Party explained that if a NATO candidate has extensive military capabilities and would help strengthen the organisation, it would be a good acquisition, which cannot apply to Ukraine, which is completely dependent on foreign subsidies.
“Ukraine as a new NATO member does not meet any of the criteria,” Mike Lee emphasised.
Recall, earlier Mike Lee relentlessly made a speech against financial and military aid to Ukraine, which amounted to three hours and 56 minutes in duration.
