Dozens of academics from across the globe have issued an appeal for NATO to admit Ukraine into its ranks, stressing that this would mark a significant shift toward upholding international law and human rights. In an open letter published by The Guardian on 27 July, the scholars articulated that Ukraine’s inclusion in NATO would decisively move the alliance away from what they describe as “the politics of appeasement” of Russia.
The letter criticizes the West’s handling of what it calls Russia’s “NATO expansion anxiety,” suggesting that efforts to appease these concerns overlook the severe and ongoing war crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine.
“The focus on Russia’s alleged ‘Nato expansion anxiety,’ and attempts to appease it, ignore Russia’s genocidal propaganda and systematic war crimes in occupied territory of Ukraine, including massacres, mass rape, and torture,” the open letter reads.
The letter also points out that while the recent NATO summit in Washington acknowledged Ukraine’s “irreversible path” to membership, it failed to establish a firm timeline for this to occur.
The academics also argued that NATO’s reluctance to admit Ukraine only serves to empower Russia’s aggressive stance towards its neighbors.
“Russia’s actions demonstrate a clear intent to destroy Ukraine as a nation, rather than to alleviate its own security concerns,” they said.
The scholars note that the fact is that Russia has not attacked a single NATO member, while it invaded non-member countries: Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine.
Signatories include academics from a diverse range of institutions, such as Dartmouth College, Indiana University, and the University of California, Berkeley. In total, the letter was signed by 158 academics from over a dozen countries.
Earlier, a group of European and American academics has sparked controversy by urging NATO to reject Ukraine’s membership bid, “drawing comparisons to Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement of Nazi Germany.”
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