If Ukraine was in NATO, Russia would not have attacked, - Johnson
Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson believes that a full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation could have been avoided if Ukraine had been a member of NATO.
He wrote about this in a column for the Washington Post, Censor.NET reports.
In his opinion, Western politicians used "diplomatic ambiguity" on NATO and Ukraine for decades - and it "ended in a complete disaster."
"We have been telling Ukrainians for years that we have an "open door" policy in NATO and that they have the right to "choose their own destiny" and that Russia should not have veto power.
And all this time we made Moscow understand unequivocally that Ukraine will never join the alliance - because many NATO members themselves will use their right of veto," Johnson writes.
The result, he said, was the worst war in Europe in the last 80 years.
"Putin invaded not because he thought Ukraine was going to join NATO. He always knew that was unlikely. He attacked Ukraine because he believed - and had numerous proofs of this - that we did not take the defense of Ukraine very seriously," Johnson said.
In his opinion, a full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation could have been avoided if NATO members had been brave and consistent enough and accepted Ukraine into the Alliance.
Johnson also noted that now support for NATO membership in Ukraine is very high, 83 percent of Ukrainians believe that Ukraine should become a member of the Alliance.
"Today, Ukrainians use a dizzying amount of various equipment from NATO countries with extraordinary skill and bravery... NATO could not teach Ukrainians how to wage war - in fact, there is a lot that they could teach us," - wrote the former British prime minister.
Johnson notes that it was necessary to insist on the thesis that "the Kremlin has nothing to fear from NATO because it is a defense alliance. But the member countries have accepted this false thesis; I admit that for a while I agreed with it."
He also wrote that "Ukrainians should get everything they need to end this war as soon as possible."
