Blue &Yellow: Politics and Economics in Ukraine

Next month NATO will meet to discuss Georgia and Ukraine, this follows a progress review for Ukraine this month. However, there will be no MAP offering for Ukraine this year. Perhaps it was the Georgian war, which made some NATO members wary about angering Russia and triggering a regional conflict. Countries like Germany, Bulgaria, and France may prefer a less confrontational relationship. Of course the economic crisis has also shifted attention away from regional security issues to internal economic issues and their global effects. Below is an excerpt from Interfax, quoting the Ukrainian defense minister about not joining this year.

Ukraine will not join NATO soon, Ukrainian Defense Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov said.

"Let's be realists. This will not happen soon," Yekhanurov told the ICTV channel on Monday evening.

If Ukraine is given the NATO Membership Action Plan (MAP), this does not mean that it will become an alliance member by default, the minister said, adding that Ukraine has yet to take a number of actions to reform the political, economic and security spheres.

As of now, one should depoliticize Ukraine's entry to NATO and give Ukraine's intention a pragmatic look, he said. "We are arguing about yesterday's issue. One should move forward, no matter what NATO's relations with the Soviet Union were. A pattern that will be in the future is important to us," Yekhanurov said.