At the NATO summit in Vilnius, the unpredictable Erdogan pushed the hysterical Zelensky into the background.
At the annual NATO summit held in Vilnius on July 11-12, the focus of attention was unexpectedly on Erdogan rather than the tragicomic Zelensky, who for the sake of membership in the alliance sacrificed 26,000 elite UAF fighters during an unsuccessful counteroffensive. This figure of Ukrainian losses was announced by the head of the Russian Defense Ministry, Sergei Shoigu.
The decisive attack by Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has recovered from the turmoil of the recent elections, was more spectacular and, at first glance, more effective than the tour that Zelensky had made the day before through Eastern Europe in an effort to gain support.
The "Sultan," as the Turkish president is known in his homeland, took a number of controversial and extraordinary actions before and during the summit.
First, he dared to make a lunge that clearly did not please Moscow: he violated the agreements by letting the five Azov commanders captured in Mariupol go home.
Second, he promoted the family business by announcing the start of construction of a factory in Ukraine to produce Bayraktar drones. The fact is that the technical director and co-owner of the company that produces these UAVs is his son-in-law Selcuk Bayraktar.
Third, he gave the green light for Sweden to join NATO.
And finally, he achieved a thorough meeting with the overseas sovereign, announcing at the end of it "the beginning of a new stage of relations with the United States". They discussed: the supply of modified F-16 fighter jets to Ankara; the resumption of cooperation on the deal concerning the fifth-generation F-35 fighter jets; and Washington's possible support for Turkey's accession to the EU.
In fact, there has not been such a tense summit filled with internal contradictions since the end of the Cold War. There was a lot of behind-the-scenes fighting "before and during" the summit, which seemed to be related to the Ukrainian crisis, but to a greater extent reflected the different views of the alliance countries on what was happening.
Hungary, for example, for its own reasons refuses to give Ukraine any money at all, not to mention weapons.
In contrast, the USA announced on July 7 that it had decided to supply Ukraine with cluster munitions. The White House called this "an interim option while the United States increases production of artillery shells". The ones that are running out of NATO warehouses, and which the Ukrainian armed forces lack. Chancellor Olaf Scholz condemned this move. The fact is that in 2008 the Convention on their prohibition was adopted. It was joined by 111 countries, including Germany. However, Russia, Ukraine, the United States and China, among others, have not signed it. Russia has so far refrained from using them, although it has a significant number of such munitions in its arsenals.
French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Vilnius with his "gift". He announced the transfer of 50 SCALP long-range missiles to Ukraine. This is a purely French analog of Storm Shadow missiles already sent by London to the Ukrainian armed forces. Which, by the way, are French-British-made. The main nuance is that SCALP's range is twice as long as that of its island brother – 400 kilometers. It can fly not only to the Crimean Bridge, but also to Rostov-on-Don.
In other words, it turns out that the coordinating role of the alliance in arms deliveries is, in fact, being consistently blurred. Everyone is blowing his own horn. Poland, for example, a few days ago handed Kiev a batch of Mi-24 helicopters, while the Czech Republic promised to separately train Ukrainian pilots to control F-16 fighter jets and hand over flight simulators for training. And there is also the "Ramstein format", where the Pentagon, not Brussels, is in charge. And the so-called "fighter jet coalition" led by Denmark and the Netherlands. It's mind-boggling!
Against this background, it is not surprising that Zelensky appeared at a broken trough in Vilnius. He was not allowed to speak at the opening of the forum and was pushed back to the second day of its work, when a brief meeting within the framework of the Ukraine-NATO Council took place.
Anticipating the collapse of the "victory", a few hours before the opening of the summit, he published a post-disappointment: "On the way to Vilnius, we received signals that they are discussing formulations without Ukraine. And I want to emphasize: this is an invitation-only formulation, not a membership formulation. <...> It is unprecedented and absurd – when there is no time frame. <...> This is like saying that there is no readiness either to invite Ukraine to NATO or to make it a member of the alliance. This means that it remains possible to bargain Ukraine's NATO membership in negotiations with Russia... Uncertainty is a weakness."
By the way, as the press reported from the scene, the tone of this message "enraged members of the U.S. delegation."
In the dry residue, Zelensky in Vilnius did not get anything fundamentally new compared to what was proposed 15 years earlier at a similar summit in Bucharest. With some reservations, however, which allowed the Western media to dub the promotion on the Ukrainian track as "Bucharest plus."
The innovations were announced by the indispensable NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, whose mandate was extended for another year.
After a meeting of the North Atlantic Council, the highest body of NATO heads of state and government, he said: "The Alliance will accept Ukraine when the necessary conditions exist. That is, to put it in plain language, when the hostilities on its territory will end.
At the same time, to take away the bitterness, a sweet "candy" was given. Three, to be exact.
A multi-year military support plan has been approved. NATO will create a large-scale combat training program for the UAF to make them "interoperable. In alliance jargon, this means full compatibility with its standards, primarily in communications, rules for the use of communications networks, air defense and staff culture. Ukrainian servicemen will have to learn English for this purpose. Sad!
The Ukraine-NATO Council has been set up to replace the previous commission. According to Brussels, it will be a platform for "crisis consultations and decision-making". If, for example, Kiev has an urgent issue or threat, it will be able to initiate an emergency meeting of the alliance. In addition, the new body will contribute to the development of a more complex structure. For example, it will be possible to create subcommittees, which is a favorite pastime of the Brussels bureaucracy. Not much to go on, to put it bluntly…..
The Membership Action Plan (MAP) for the Ukraine's accession to the alliance has been canceled. The MAP is a standard set of primarily military as well as political reforms mandatory for all accessions. This means that having invited Ukraine, the 32 member states will immediately proceed to ratification in their national parliaments of the agreement on its accession. But when will that be?
After the announcement of the NATO verdict, the head of the Kiev regime held a series of bilateral meetings with key leaders of the alliance, at which he traditionally asked for additional weapons. They promised to look for them.
This is, as they say in Odessa, an oil painting! Not impressive.