Presence of NATO troops in Ukraine would not violate int’l norms - Czechia’s Pavel

This was reported by Euractiv with reference to the Czech media, Ukrinform saw.

NATO troops could carry out support activities directly on Ukrainian territory as this would not violate any international rules, Czech President Petr Pavel said in an interview for Czech Television.

Pavel's remarks about further support for Ukraine came just a few days after his meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, who recently broached the issue of sending Western troops to Ukraine.

According to Pavel, there should be a clear distinction between the deployment of combat units and the possible involvement of troops in certain "support" activities with which NATO already has experience.

“It should be remembered that after the annexation of Crimea and the occupation of part of Donbas, which was essentially an aggression, albeit on a much smaller scale than today, a NATO training mission was operating on Ukrainian territory, which at one time included more than 15 countries and numbered around 1,000 people,” the former head of NATO’s Military Committee, recalled.

“From the point of view of international law and the UN Charter, there would be nothing to prevent NATO member states’ troops – as well as civilians, for example – from assisting in the work in Ukraine,” Pavel noted.

Asked whether he would support the involvement of NATO troops in direct support of Ukraine on its territory, Pavel did not say no.

“I would certainly not reject a debate on this issue. If we could agree with the allies that, for example, instead of training Ukrainian soldiers on the territory of NATO member states and transporting thousands of troops to, say, Poland or the Czech Republic, it would make much more sense to transport a few dozen instructors to Ukrainian territory and train Ukrainian soldiers there,” he said.

He also recalled that after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moscow declared that anyone providing any assistance to Ukraine would become a legitimate target.

“Today, we are not only supplying Ukraine with small arms, we are supplying it with tanks, we may soon supply it with aircraft, we are supplying it with medium-range cruise missiles, and yet there has been no attack on NATO territory. Russia knows full well that this would be a violation of the law of a much greater calibre than what it is doing now,” Pavel said, adding that Russia is aware of NATO’s strength.

According to Pavel, Western allies should have the courage to defend their activities legally, "because helping to train and maintain equipment in a sovereign country is not combat," he explained.

Last week, at a press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron, Pavel said Europe should not limit its opportunities to support Ukraine, which is fighting against Russian aggression.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron said on February 26 he did not rule out deploying Western troops to Ukraine.

French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu said there were currently no plans in the works to send troops to Ukraine, adding that Ukraine's allies may consider launching special training or demining missions on Ukrainian soil.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, called on partners to have their training missions returned the territory of Ukraine, recalling that in 2014-2022, the wide range of such missions were deployed in the country.