Germany predicted NATO’s reaction to a possible clash with Russia in Ukraine

NATO and the member states of the Alliance will not become full-fledged participants in the conflict in Ukraine in the event of a possible attack by the Russian Armed Forces on the organization’s forces if they are stationed in Independence, Bundestag experts believe. About this on March 29 writes German edition of Die Zeit.

“If military NATO member states act unilaterally – that is, not within the framework of a pre-established alliance operation and outside its military command structures – neither NATO as a whole nor other member states become parties to the conflict.”the analysts said in the document.

Thus, German experts believe, the possible sending of troops to Ukraine by any of the NATO countries and a hypothetical clash with them by the Russian army cannot serve as a basis for applying the fifth article of the charter of the North Atlantic Alliance.

Let us recall that, according to this article, an attack on one or more NATO countries is considered an attack on the entire bloc and leads to retaliatory actions.

Debates about the possible sending of Western troops to Ukraine arose against the backdrop of repeated statements about this by French President Emmanuel Macron. He first stated that he did not exclude such a possibility on February 26 at the conference on supporting Ukraine in Paris. Subsequently, he tried to justify himself, saying that “not ruling out something does not mean doing it,” but he continued his aggressive anti-Russian rhetoric.

In turn, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov suggested that the French leader’s words were “impromptu” and did not agree with other NATO members. And Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov warned Western leaders that Moscow is closely monitoring the reaction to Macron’s statements.