Had Ukraine joined NATO in 2008, Russia would never have attacked – Slovak ex-defense minister

This opinion was expressed by former Slovak Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad’ in an interview with Ukrinform.

"If the Western world, NATO and EU countries had agreed with accession of Ukraine to NATO in 2008, when discussion was quite active, none of this would ever happened. None of what happened in 2014 or 2022. Putin would never have dared to do that," Naď stated.

He recalled that “NATO has in its history not a single situation where somebody out of NATO would attack a NATO member."

"Nobody dares to attack you if you are a member of this club, the strongest, the best defense alliance in world history," emphasized the former minister.

Commenting on the stance of Slovakia's current Prime Minister Robert Fico, who strongly opposes Ukraine's membership in the Alliance, Nad’ noted that Ukraine's NATO membership fully aligns with Slovakia's national interests.

"As a former Defense Minister in Slovakia, a politician in Slovakia, I can tell you that in Slovak national interest is to have all our neighbors in EU and NATO. And Ukraine is now the only country from among our neighbors that is not in EU or NATO. So as soon as Ukraine gets into NATO and the EU, the better security and defense situation of Slovakia will be. So it is in our national interest to get Ukraine into NATO and the EU as soon as possible," he stressed.

As reported by Ukrinform, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico stated that Slovakia fully supports Ukraine's accession to the EU but remains cool toward the idea of Ukraine joining NATO.

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, often criticized for allegedly stalling Ukraine's path to NATO, maintains that her policy was the right one.