More than 150 scientists call on NATO to invite Ukraine to join alliance

Scientists from different parts of the world have signed an open letter, calling on NATO to invite Ukraine to join the military alliance.

As many as 158 scientists signed the letter, which was published in the British newspaper The Guardian, Ukrinform reports.

"Inviting Ukraine to join NATO would mark a definitive step away from the politics of appeasement and back to the rule of international law and protection of human rights. A decision to extend security guarantees to Ukraine would not only safeguard the Ukrainian state, via the only means yet shown to be successful, but would also reassert NATO and the western democracies as effective political agents on the world stage," the letter says.

According to the letter, the arguments against Ukraine's NATO membership, which have been proffered repeatedly since Russia's attack on Ukraine began in 2014, ultimately reiterate the same concern: that any step, however small, would be seen as threatening Russia's security, and would therefore provoke greater conflict.

In addition, the idea that extending security guarantees to Ukraine would further incentivize Russia's brutal prosecution of this war is unfounded, since Russia is fully determined to destroy Ukraine and needs no additional motivation to do so.

"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. Russia's actions demonstrate a clear intent to destroy Ukraine as a nation, rather than to alleviate its own security concerns," the scientists said.

Secondly, it is a fact that Russia has not attacked a single NATO member.

"Instead, it has threatened, invaded and occupied non-member countries: Georgia, Moldova and now Ukraine," they wrote.

Finally, attempts to appease the Kremlin fail to address Russia’s determination to secure anti-western global power.

"Russia already fully controls Belarus and has been actively forming its own alliances with China, North Korea and Iran, which stand for the destruction of the democratic order. Russia bombed Syrian cities to keep Bashar al-Assad (a dictator who used chemical weapons against civilians) in power," the scientists added.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said earlier that the leaders of NATO countries at the summit in Washington had discussed how to bring Ukraine closer to membership in the military alliance and make this path irreversible.