Scholz Says Assured Putin Ukraine Won't Join NATO Before February 24

BERLIN (Sputnik) - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he used to assure Russian President Vladimir Putin that Kiev's accession to NATO would not be on the agenda in the next 30 years before the start of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine.

In late 2021, Russia published its security suggestions for NATO and the United States as tensions flared up around Ukraine. Moscow specifically requested guarantees that the alliance would not expand eastward to include Kiev and Tbilisi, to which Washington replied by insisting it would not allow anyone to infringe on NATO's open-door policy, providing for a right of each state to independently decide on whether to join the bloc.

"I talked to him [Putin]... I said very clearly — and you know this — that Ukraine's accession to NATO was not on the agenda. I even told him once after a joint press conference: 'This issue [Ukraine's accession to NATO] will not be on the agenda in the next 30 years.' And I deliberately made this statement publicly so that the argument in favor of this causing a war could not really be put forward," Scholz said during an open day in the German government on Sunday, when asked why Berlin had not used its influence to prevent the conflict and why Russian security interests had not been taken into account.

The German chancellor accused Russia of preparing the special operation in Ukraine "a year or two before it began."

On February 24, Russia began the military operation in Ukraine responding to calls for help from the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk. The US and its allies responded by imposing comprehensive sanctions against Russia while also ramping up their military support for Ukraine.

Western countries started sending arms and mercenaries to Ukraine months prior to the Russian operation. Moscow has repeatedly denounced the continuous flow of weapons to Kiev, saying that it adds fuel to the fire and derails the negotiation process. In April, Russia sent a note to NATO member states, condemning their military assistance to Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned that "any weapon, any arms shipment on the Ukrainian territory" would be "a legitimate target."