Stoltenberg: "Germany joined NATO while divided"

Former NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg believes that Ukraine can be accepted into NATO before the end of the war.

He stated that in the history of the alliance there have already been cases of accepting countries that did not completely control their territory, writes D.W. The possible entry of Ukraine into NATO during a war unleashed by the Russian Federation will not necessarily make the North Atlantic Alliance a direct participant, since Security guarantees in this case may not apply to territories occupied by Russia.

Jens Stoltenberg spoke about this in interview with a journalist from the British edition of the Financial Times, published on October 4. He noted that Germany joined NATO while divided.

According to Stoltenberg, opponents of Ukraine’s admission to NATO among the alliance countries argue their position by saying that in this case Article 5 of the NATO Charter will be applied, implying the direct participation of all alliance countries in hostilities unleashed against one of its members.

However, the former secretary general of the alliance pointed out, “there are ways to solve this problem… if there is a line that is not necessarily an internationally recognized border.” As an example, the former head of the North Atlantic Alliance cited cases from the history of other countries joining NATO that did not fully control their territories, including Germany, which joined the alliance in 1955:

“West Germany considered the East part of the greater Germany. They did not have an embassy in East Berlin. But NATO, of course, only protected West Germany. Comparisons are always very dangerous, because no parallels are 100% correct. The US provided security guarantees to Japan, but they do not apply to the Kuril Islands, which Japan considers Japanese territory controlled by Russia. When there is a will, there are ways to find a solution. But you need a line that determines where Article 5 applies, and Ukraine must control all the territory up to that border.”

According to Stoltenberg, it is Ukraine remains to decide whether it will negotiate peace with the Russian Federation. However, the Ukrainians' allies “need to create conditions that will allow them to sit down with the Russians and get something acceptable… something with which they can survive as an independent state,” Stoltenberg said. When asked by a journalist what it could be, the ex-head of the alliance cited the example of Finland, which defended itself from the USSR at the beginning of World War II:

“Finland bravely fought a war against the Soviet Union in 1939. They caused the Red Army much greater costs than they expected. The confrontation ended with Finland giving the USSR 10 percent of its territory, but receiving a secure border.”

Stoltenberg lamented NATO's lack of support for Ukraine in the past:

“I think we all have to admit: We should have given them more weapons before the invasion. And once the invasion began, we should have given them more modern weapons faster.”

In a conversation with a Financial Times journalist, Stoltenberg also spoke about the discussion about insufficient allocation of funds for defense among the alliance countries. The rule, which stipulates that NATO countries must allocate at least 2% of GDP to defense spending, was previously not observed by all members of the alliance. During his reign, Donald Trump criticized the failure to implement these measures, and one of his campaign promises in the current presidential campaign was to revise the rules for US participation in the alliance.

According to Stoltenberg, Europe now lags behind Russia in terms of the number of weapons and troops on alert:

“I can say with confidence that if the allies are going to deliver on the capabilities they've promised, it will cost a lot more than 2%, whether it's 2.5% or 3%.”

Stoltenberg answered in the affirmative to the journalist’s question about whether they know about this state of affairs in Moscow.

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