BRUSSELS – Since Russia launched its war against Ukraine three years ago, the NATO military alliance has gone to great lengths to express its support for Ukraine – politically and by helping modernize its military.
But a recent Gallup poll suggests Ukraine is not feeling the love.
A multi-country survey showed that 35 percent of Ukrainians associate NATO with being a “threat” compared to only 29 percent who associate the 28-nation alliance with “protection.” Also tellingly, 36 percent said “neither.” The results of the poll are here.
Suggesting an explanation for the results, Gallup said the Ukrainian population was growing “tired of the ongoing conflict between its military and Russian-backed separatists, as well as a poor economy and rising crime rates.”
“Without a clear end in sight to the conflict, Ukrainians may be losing confidence in NATO’s ability to help them in this crisis,” Gallup said.
The chilly results became a Valentine’s Day topic on the eve of a two-day conference of defense ministers representing all member nations.
At a press conference on Feb. 14, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg wasn’t asked directly about the poll, but reiterated NATO’s strong support for Ukraine.
Still, Ukraine’s lack of priority status was underscored by Stoltenberg’s non-committal response to the Ukrainian government’s invitation that the NATO Atlantic Council – the decision-making body made up of permanent representatives of all member nations – meet in Ukraine.
Stoltenberg, instead, said that NATO will check its schedule to see if and when it can meet in Ukraine. “We just received the invitation,” he said. It was made during Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman’s Feb. 9 visit to Brussels headquarters.
“Ukraine is a very close partner of NATO,” Stoltenberg said, emphasizing his many meetings in various cities with President Petro Poroshenko and other leaders around the globe.
Another high-ranking NATO official – who conducted a morning press briefing on the condition of not being named — said that the alliance is concerned by the poll’s results and will look into improving its public diplomacy in Ukraine.
“We always look at polls because they reflect what public opinions think,” the official said. “We will be looking at what we need to do better from a communications point of view. We have a very strong public diplomacy program in Ukraine. We have an information office in Ukraine. We are reaching out to civil society, media. We have a very open policy, not just with Ukraine but also with Russia.”
(Editor’s Note: The Kyiv Post is among journalists from Ukraine, Russia and other nations regularly invited by NATO’S Public Diplomacy Division to attend its meetings.)
At the same time, the official said NATO is “doing everything within our resources to support Ukraine” in reforms, in building NATO’s deterrence capacity and by ending “practical cooperation with Russia.”
NATO’s relationship with Ukraine, however, is not expected to take center stage at the defense ministers’ meeting.
The star of the show will likely be new U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis, who is scheduled to meet with Stoltenberg on Feb. 15 and who may schedule a press conference during his time in Brussels.
At his press conference, Stoltenberg expressed no dissatisfaction with either Trump’s support of NATO – despite the president calling the alliance “obsolete” – or the new U.S. president’s pro-Vladimir Putin views.
In two telephone conversations with Trump, Stoltenberg said the president expressed strong support for NATO and its policy of strong deterrence and strong dialogue with Russia.
The topic that came up in both conversations, Stoltenberg said, is Trump’s insistence that all NATO allies spend 2 percent of their national gross domestic product on defense spending. Currently, only five allies do so: the United States, the United Kingdom, Greece, Poland and Estonia.
He said that the 28 members have outlined a three-step process of reversing spending cuts, increasing defense spending gradually and meeting the 2 percent threshold by 2024. Already, Stoltenberg cited success, saying in the last year NATO members increased defense spending 3.8 percent or by $10 billion.
But speeding up the 2024 timetable at the insistence of the United States will be one of the main topics of discussion over the next three days.
“I agree with him,” Stoltenberg said of Trump’s insistence that other NATO members meet their 2 percent spending pledge. “We are aware that several NATO allies are struggling with their budgets and with their deficits and with the challenges how to increase defense spending. Having said that, it’s always a question of how to prioritize defense and when 28 allies agreed (on the 2 percent target), we expect all 28 allies to deliver.”
Besides sharing the cost burden of defense spending, other topics on the agenda: confronting international terrorism, confronting cyber-warfare and responding to Russian aggression not only in Ukraine but also in Eastern Europe.
The transcript of Stoltenberg’s Feb. 14 press conference can be read here.
