Ukraine makes urgent request for NATO membership

Times:

Viktor Yushchenko, the Ukrainian President, was in a fierce and defiant mood yesterday as he urged Nato to respond to the Russian invasion of Georgia by moving quickly to expand the frontiers of the alliance eastwards.

In an exclusive interview with The Times Mr Yushchenko asserted that the fundamentals of international politics had changed. Ukraine had to do everything in its power to ensure it was not going to be next on the Kremlin hitlist.

“It is the first time in Europe since the Cold War that a foreign army has entered the territory of a sovereign state without any internationally accepted legal basis,” he said.

“If we were to be ambivalent about this it would give tacit approval to put our country and our citizens under threat.”

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Russians form a strong minority in Ukraine — about 17 per cent of the population, in the east and to the south in the Crimea — and could become a flashpoint in any future confrontation with Moscow.

Yesterday was the eve of Ukrainian Independence Day and it was time for the President to break cover. Over the roofs of Kiev, a Ukrainian jet fighter howled through the sky. It was preparing for the celebrations, but its presence still induced a vague sense of menace.

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The defence budget of Ukraine — as in other nervous Central European states — is to be raised immediately. “I want to remind all political forces in our country that shout about the possible neutral status of Ukraine that neutrality can come at a very high price,” he said, casting a nod at pro-Moscow politicians.

As a young man, the President had direct experience of Russia's fear of encirclement — after graduation he did national service as a KGB border guard on the Soviet-Turkish border.

“We need to increase the military budget so that there is no question about what happens tomorrow,” he added.

Russia argues that the West is posing a direct threat on its borders by expanding Nato, but its invasion on behalf of the South Ossetians has cancelled out its claim to have legitimate anxieties.

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Ukraine has reason for concern. Yushchenko was maimed in a poison attempt shortly before his election and the KGB is the prime suspect. The poison was different than that used to kill a former Russian agent in London. That attack was successful.