_Vinayak Barot
New Delhi: The Scenario between the US, NATO, and Russia have changed after Russia invaded Ukraine on Thursday. After the attack of Russia on Ukraine, now the US has cleared its stand and said, “The US will intervene if Putin moves into NATO countries,”
The latest statement – given by the US President, Joe Biden, cleared that NATO and the US may not take strong actions against Russia to protect Ukraine from invasion, will take action if Moscow tries to intervene in NATO nations.
A few weeks back, before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the officials of Russia had cleared that the Moscow government does not want Ukraine to allow NATO nations’ armies in their country. Russia warned Ukraine, the US, and NATO nations before the invasion, but the situation turned after Russia attacked Ukraine.
If the Russian troops and arms reached the western part of Ukraine, then Russian forces will be near the NATO nations Poland, Romania, and others.
According to the media report, Ukraine is not a member of Nato. It has been waiting to be a Nato member since 2008. It was promised membership.
American President George.W.Bush pushed for putting Ukraine on Membership Action Plan (MAP), an essential step towards becoming a Nato member, but Germany and France blocked the move. They insisted that Ukraine must meet certain eligibility criteria.
The group was conceived to fend off a suspected attack from Russia on any of the founding members. The communist-capitalist narrative and shadow of World War II dominated the sentiments back then.
Article 5 of the Nato charter is the cornerstone of this military alliance. It talks of “the principle of collective defense”, declaring it “the very heart of Nato”.
This article binds Nato member-countries to commit them “to protecting each other and setting a spirit of solidarity within the alliance”.
This means if a member country is attacked by a non-member country, all members will consider it an attack on the individual countries and respond militarily. But Article 5 does not apply to a non-member country, such as Ukraine. Still, Nato is a stakeholder in the Russia-Ukraine war.