I thought it was an illusion to assume that Ukraine and Georgia's MAP status (candidate status for NATO membership) would protect them from Putin's aggression and that this status would be so deterrent that Putin would accept the events without action, - former German Chancellor, Angela Merkel writes in her memoirs, which is published by ZEIT ONLINE.
"I understood the desire of Central and Eastern European countries to become NATO members as quickly as possible, but accepting a new member should bring more security not only to them, but also to NATO," Merkel wrote.
She said she saw the risks associated with the contractual presence of Russia's Black Sea Fleet in Ukraine's Crimean peninsula, and that at the time only a minority of Ukraine's population supported the country's NATO membership.
"I thought it was an illusion to suggest that Ukraine and Georgia's MAP status (membership candidate status) would protect them from Putin's aggression, that this status would be so deterrent that Putin would accept events without acting. At that time, was it inconceivable that NATO member states would respond militarily - both materially and with troops and intervene? Was it conceivable that I, as Chancellor, would ask the German Bundestag for such a mandate for our Bundeswehr and get a majority for it?", wrote Merkel.
In the end, a compromise was reached, she said, but it came at a price.
"The fact that Georgia and Ukraine did not receive the promise of MAP status was a "no" to their hopes. The fact that NATO at the same time offered them a general promise to join was a 'yes' for Putin - a declaration of war for both countries to join NATO," Merkel wrote.
