Warsaw NATO Summit, Explained

What You Need To Know:

✓ The 2016 NATO Summit in Warsaw concluded with "no clear confirmation of membership perspective for Ukraine;"

✓ The Summit discussed the strengthening of NATO’s Eastern border in the Baltics – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland – where four battalions will be deployed in the coming year;

✓ NATO’s message was clear: "NATO is not about isolation of Russia or confrontation;"

✓ More provocations could be expected from Russia.

The 2016 NATO Summit in Warsaw concluded with “no clear confirmation of membership perspective for Ukraine,” says Hromadske reporter Zhanna Bezpiatchuk, who was there and filed a report. Instead, NATO is offering Ukraine a path towards "intensifying cooperation." Ukraine received a comprehensive assistance package, which provides an overview and systemization of various initiatives and programs that it has already developed in its cooperation with NATO.

The Summit discussed the strengthening of NATO’s Eastern border in the Baltics – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland – where four battalions will be deployed in the coming year. “Compared to Russian forces, these 4000 soldiers and officers that will be stationed on the basis of rotation in four countries is enough to deter Russia,” however it is not enough to create an offensive in the region, says Bezpiatchuk.

According to Bezpiatchuk, NATO’s message was clear: “NATO is not about the isolation of Russia or confrontation,” and the alliance does not want to get involved in a new cold conflict with the country. She adds that off the record, more provocations could be expected from Russia and that some independent experts at the Summit were more outspoken about the security of the Black Sea region – the “first region of special vulnerability.”

Hromadske’s Nataliya Gumenyuk and Kyiv Post’s Josh Kovensky spoke to Zhanna Bezpiatchuk, HROMADSKE.UA journalist on July 10th, 2016 in Kyiv.