On July 13, 2023, the Facebook page “Sakartvelo Today News” published a Facebook post and an article about the prospects of Sweden and Ukraine joining NATO. According to the post, the final communique of the NATO summit does not mention that Ukraine will join the alliance immediately after the end of the war, which means that the NATO member states have a unanimous stance and think that Ukraine has no place in the military-political bloc. The article also states that another reason why Ukraine is not accepted into the alliance is the fact that all member states of the alliance will automatically have to recognize the country’s territorial integrity, and Poland has a territorial claim over the western part of Ukraine, which it considers its historical territory.
The claim that Ukraine will not become a member of NATO is spread manipulatively. During the July 12-13 summit, the exact terms of Ukraine’s accession to NATO were not named, but it was decided that Ukraine will no longer need a MAP to join the alliance. As for the assertion that Poland has claims over the territory of Western Ukraine, it is false, and similar messages have been active since the emergence of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia. In fact, Poland has not voiced any claims regarding the annexation of the territories of Western Ukraine and has always supported the sovereignty of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders.
Details from the NATO Summit
On July 11-12, 2023, the NATO summit was held in Vilnius, which was attended by the leaders of 31 countries of the alliance. Sweden’s accession to the North Atlantic Alliance was supported by Hungary and Turkey, allowing the country to become the 32nd member of NATO after Finland. Ukraine received a promise that the country will join the alliance relatively easily, without a “MAP”. This means that Ukraine can skip one step in the process of joining. On July 11, the general secretary of the military alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, said that this decision will make Ukraine’s accession to NATO easier, and instead of two steps, one will be enough for the country.
Jens Stoltenberg: “We reaffirmed Ukraine will become a member of NATO and agreed to remove the requirement for a membership action plan.”
NATO membership also obliges Kyiv to reform its security institutions, improve governance and curb corruption. Britain supports Ukraine’s rapid accession to NATO, and Eastern European and Baltic countries, including Lithuania, have called for strong support and a clear path to Ukraine’s membership. NATO leaders said on Tuesday they would allow Ukraine to join the alliance “once allies agree and conditions are met.” Stoltenberg also noted that now the most important thing is that Ukraine wins the war, because “unless Ukraine prevails there is no membership to be discussed at all.” NATO membership conditions include modernization of defense and security institutions, maintenance of stable democracy and fight against corruption, and another condition is the end of war.
In addition, the United States of America and other countries have promised Ukraine modern military equipment in the land, sea and air fields and economic assistance to counter the Russian attack. According to them, now and in the future, Ukraine will be provided with weapons and military equipment, including air force systems. They also promise to impose more sanctions on Russia. The NATO-Ukraine Council was also launched on July 12, which should replace the existing NATO-Ukraine Commission. The commission aims to be a permanent body where the 31 members of the alliance and Ukraine can hold consultations and convene meetings in emergency situations. Also, unlike the NATO-Ukraine commission, Kyiv will have the right to convene and vote on the council.
Poland does not have territorial claims over Western Ukraine
For years now, the Russian government and other Kremlin actors have been spreading the lie that Poland is planning to annex the territories of Western Ukraine. This narrative has been especially fueled since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, after Poland declared its full support for Ukraine. The Kremlin is trying to convey the idea that Poland is using the war for its own purposes and, in exchange for helping Ukraine, is “requesting” the territories of Western Ukraine, which was part of the Second Polish Republic.
Notably, Poland has not expressed any territorial claims over the territories of Western Ukraine and constantly supports the sovereignty of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders. Stanisław Żaryn, coordinator of the special services of the Polish government, systematically addresses the disinformation spread by Russia. The government’s website often publishes a statement about Russia’s attempt to confront Poland and Ukraine.
“Myth Detector” debunked a number of disinformation spread on this topic since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war. For more information about similar Kremlin’s disinformation messages, see:
About the Source
Facebook page Sakartvelo Today News was created on February 11, 2023 and its original name was Marketing Hawk. The transparency section of the page states that the page is run by three people – two from Ukraine and one from the US.
It is worth noting that there are three sponsored posts by the page in July 2023 in the ads library. Two of them concern the celebration of the World Youth Skills Day established by the UN General Assembly on July 15. According to the post, the holiday aims to remind society how important it is to help young people develop and reach new heights. The article, on the other hand, tells about the possibility of studying in Russian universities for Georgian youth. According to the article, 200 places are allocated for Georgian applicants in Russia, both in paid and free departments.
The website sakartvelo-today.org, on which various articles are published, includes several sections: culture, society, economy, business, politics, science and education, sports, analytics. It should be noted that there is no “About Us” section on the website and information about the publication is not available. According to Who is Lookup, the website sakartvelo-today.org was created in April 2023 and its IP address is located in Netherlands, namely Amsterdam.
In many cases, the texts are linguistically incorrect, which creates the impression that the articles were written by a person who knows another language, or were prepared in another language, and then automatically translated, which resulted in unnatural forms for Georgian.
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