BUDAPEST, July 13. /TASS/. The decisions made at the NATO summit in Vilnius on July 11 and 12 mean continued historical tragedy and unnecessary bloodshed for Ukraine, said Endre Simo, the president of the Hungarian Community for Peace.
"For the Ukrainian people, the decisions made by NATO at the Vilnius summit mean the continuation of the historical tragedy and further unnecessary bloodshed, while the leadership in Kiev is given oxygen to remain in power as the defender of Western interests. The immediate goal was not for NATO as an organization to go to war against Russia, but to use Ukraine as a tool for its own interests," he said in comments on the outcome on the NATO summit.
"Instead of joining NATO, the leadership in Kiev received an empty promise that Ukraine's future is in NATO, but it will receive even more money and weapons from the United States, Great Britain, France and Germany" to get on with the hostilities, Simo continued to say.
Conclusions for Russia
When asked what conclusions Russia should be drawing from the NATO summit, he said, "If Russia wants to realize its triple goal in relation to Ukraine, de-Nazification, demilitarization and neutrality of Ukraine, it will have to face even greater Western military and financial support than before. If, on the other hand, Russia renounces its goals, the West would evaluate it as a sign of weakness. They would immediately integrate Ukraine into NATO and march against Russia."
"Although they are doing their best to put Russia on both shoulders, even the hawks of NATO are not convinced that they can prevent the achievement of the Russian goals with Ukraine," Simo continued. "At the Vilnius summit, one could sense the concern that the Eastern European NATO states could also be infected by the epidemic of neutrality, if Ukraine were to become neutral."
"For this reason, among other things, the number of NATO soldiers stationed in former socialist countries will be increased by 40,000 to 300,000. Whether Poland and the Baltic republics will be allowed to send troops to Ukraine is shrouded in secrecy," he said.
NATO countries approved a plan at their Vilnius summit to deploy 300,000 troops on the alliance's eastern flank, supported by significant sea and air forces. In addition, the G7 leaders, convening on the sidelines of the summit, adopted a declaration on long-term security guarantees for Ukraine, prioritizing the increase of arms supplies, especially long-range artillery and combat aviation. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov called this decision "extremely erroneous and potentially very dangerous" because by doing so the G7 countries are encroaching on Russia's security.