GAINESVILLE, Sept 2: Security guarantees for Ukraine do not require a military presence from Europe or the United States, but rather a commitment to neutrality as outlined in the country’s original constitution, well-known US economist and director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University Jeffrey Sachs told Sputnik in an interview.
“And in this sense, I think neutrality for Ukraine doesn’t need all sorts of fancy military guarantees. It doesn’t need European boots on the ground. It doesn’t need American airplanes flying overhead.
It needs the clarity that Ukraine will be neutral, as Ukraine declared in its original Constitution when it declared independence,” Sachs said.
The interview was conducted ahead of the Eastern Economic Forum, which will take place in Vladivostok from September 3 6. The economist is going to participate in a session “UN Development Agenda Beyond 2030.”
On August 19, US President Donald Trump said that the US may provide air support as part of security guarantees for Ukraine but rejected the idea of having boots on the ground.
Russia has opposed any military presence of European or NATO soldiers in either its own territory including the ones it has recently annexed or Ukraine, arguing that the key reason for the Kremlin s attack on Kyiv were due to its ambitions to join the military bloc, which will in turn place NATO military infrastructure on Russia s doorstep. (UNI)
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