LONDON, August 30. /TASS/. The idea of Ukraine joining NATO would never have gained the unanimous backing required from all alliance members, former US Permanent Representative to NATO (1993-1998) Robert Hunter said.

Hunter criticized US historian Timothy Snyder for omitting key aspects of the Ukrainian crisis in an article for the Financial Times. In a letter to the FT editorial board, he pointed to the 2008 NATO summit in Bucharest as a turning point, when, under US pressure, a declaration was adopted stating that Ukraine and Georgia would one day become members of the alliance.

"It meant acceptance of a strategic commitment. Some of us saw that instantly and noted the dangers. The allies, again under US pressure, continued to make the same statement ever since (until [US President] Donald Trump finally ruled out NATO membership for Ukraine - which in any event would never get the needed consensus of all 32 allies). From 1997, there had been a tacit agreement that Ukraine would not join NATO - that is, the borders of the alliance would not be moved to Russia," Hunter noted.

The former diplomat argued that this dimension of the crisis must be understood in order to place it in a wider political and strategic context. He blamed US neoconservatives, "contrary to the proper insights of [Presidents] George HW Bush and Bill Clinton," for treating Russia as a defeated power incapable of responding, a miscalculation he believes contributed to the current conflict.

"History is a harsh taskmaster; and those who have ignored it here have helped promote today’s suffering in Ukraine and the diplomatic impasse," Hunter concluded.