Matej Kandrik: Ukraine Longs towards Full Integration into Euro-Atlantic Structures

Matej Kandrik

Against the background of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement of the “joining” of the temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories to Russia and the successful offensive actions of the defenders of Ukraine at the front. Kyiv, therefore, made two high-profile decisions almost simultaneously. It is about officially sending Ukraine’s application for NATO membership to Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Volodymyr Zelenskyi’s approval of the NSDC’s decision on the impossibility of any negotiations with Vladimir Putin. Newssky has asked Matej Kandrik, chief executive officer of the Adapt Institute (Slovakia) to comment.

Are such steps correct, and is there hope for success?

Recent steps of president Zelensky are cementing Ukraine’s international position. The NSDC’s decision is closing any possibility for negotiations with Vladimir Putin. Only regime change in Russia would enable any talks between Kyiv and Moscow. This is an important message as well for western policymakers, as it signals clearly that any attempts to push Ukraine into negotiations with Vladimir Putin are hopeless. Application for NATO’s membership works similarly, and it signals that Ukraine will accept no Budapest Memorandum 2.0 and no trading of security guarantees for neutrality. Ukraine seeks full integration with Euro-Atlantic structures, the European Union, and NATO. President Zelensky is intentionally limiting only his own but also Western decision-makers space for maneuver, as these decisions are so clearly defining the strategic intentions of Ukraine. At the end of the day, it is possible that we will see a trade-off of Ukraine’s NATO membership delay after the war for even bigger military, humanitarian, and financial support, in my opinion.

How did the promotion to NATO take place in Slovakia, what was the most difficult, and how did you cope with it?

Slovakia’s way into NATO was a long, complicated, and dominantly political elites-driven process. Let’s remember that Poland, Hungary, and Czech Republic entered in 1999, but Slovakia only entered in 2004. This was due to the authoritarian rule of Vladimir Mečiar, which wasn’t up to the democratic standards of NATO. Back in the 2000s, there was very little understanding, not to mention the popularity of NATO in Slovak society. Alliance intervention in Yugoslavia was seen in nationalist circles as a violation of international law and imperialist aggression against brotherly Slavic Serbs. A lot of important work was done by political elites, media, and civil society organizations with a strong pro-Atlantis orientation. Yet, it would be a mistake to consider ordinary Slovaks to be staunch NATO supporters. Our society in general appreciates being a member, but there is no big love for Alliance. In addition, too, in a rather regular fashion, talks about potential neutrality or a vision of Slovakia being a bridge between the West and the East appears in public debate. While these voices are certainly not strong, they are present and capitalizing on broader anti-Western sentiments.

In Ukrainian

Maryna Kovalchuk, Newssky, contributed