FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
December 17, 2021
Contact: press@defensepriorities.org
WASHINGTON, DC—Today, Russia released a list of proposals for a new security deal with the U.S. and NATO, including requests for restrictions on NATO enlargement. Defense Priorities Policy Director Benjamin H. Friedman issued the following statement in response:
“The United States and NATO cannot accept Russia’s terms wholesale. They would require effectively renouncing NATO membership for various states in Europe. That is, for better or worse, a non-starter. But putting Ukraine and Georgia in NATO would be disastrous for U.S. interests, and the U.S. giving up something it’s not planning to do anyway, to increase the odds of interstate peace, is practical, sound policy.
“The fact is, we lack the interest and will to defend Ukraine and Georgia sufficient to make threats to do so credible. Admitting Ukraine and Georgia into NATO would raise questions about whether other NATO commitments are equally unserious and therefore do more to erode existing NATO commitments than meaningfully extend them.
“Expressing willingness to discuss these matters with Russia may itself be useful. Acknowledging Russia remains a great power with interests beyond its borders—that spheres of influence are a fact of international politics we can lament but cannot wish away—could help lower the temperature and the odds of an invasion of Ukraine.”
DEFP report: Saying “no” to NATO—options for Ukrainian neutrality
DEFP explainer: The imperative of prudent U.S.-Russia policy