West Germany's NATO membership model may be of interest for Ukraine - expert

An Austrian economist Günther Fehlinger, founder of the Austrian Committee for European Ukraine initiative, suggested this in an interview with Ukrinform.

“Ukraine must be realistic and clear, there is only a NATO future for Free Ukraine. Similar to the Western German Federal Republic in 1995, a NATO Membership is only possible for Ukraine without the occupied territories. Same as for FRG/BRD in 1995, Ukraine can keep the vision of national unity in the Constitution and, I am confident, achieve unity and result in NATO and EU membership in the distant future,” Fehlinger said.

He added that NATO "can guarantee only clear borders." Therefore, according to Fehlinger, Ukraine should consider “borderizing” the so-called demarcation lines to the occupied territories.

This border should be “put in calm but defensible conditions similar to the German-German border where only those people who tried to fell Eastern German terror regime were dying during the 44 long terrible years of Soviet occupation of Eastern Germany,” he said.

According to the Austrian expert, NATO should not be seen as a “tool of Reconquista,” the Alliance can in fact “only defend Free Ukraine from further Russian aggression".

“But for now, the division of Ukraine must be accepted similarly as we had to learn to live with the Soviet occupation of Eastern Germany for two long generations. But ultimately, the will of the Eastern Germans for freedom was greater than the fear of the Soviet puppet regime so they started to run from the occupied territories towards rich, secure, and free Western Germany. Ukraine has to be so attractive for the people from the occupied territories, from Crimea and Donbas, that they vote with their feet and leave the Russian occupied territories by opting for European Ukraine,” said Fehlinger.

Read the full interview with Günther Fehlinger here.