Italian minister: NATO guarantees more effective for Ukraine than European troops

Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto has stated that invoking Article 5 of NATO’s founding treaty on collective security to provide guarantees for Ukraine would be a more effective solution than deploying a European military contingent.

He made the remarks in an interview with the La Repubblica newspaper, Caliber.Az informs.

He noted that there are currently two possible mechanisms for security guarantees, and ultimately “the best option” will be chosen.

“The idea of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is that NATO, as a defensive alliance, could be involved in providing security, granting protection to an external country, not a NATO member, such as Ukraine. The alternative option would be guarantees from individual states. The best mechanism will be chosen. But with NATO, the deterrent is more effective,” the minister said.

He also clarified that under any option, the obligations to ensure such security would still fall on individual states.

Crosetto also emphasised that Article 5 provides for “air, land, and naval defence,” which comes into effect only in the event of an attack. If Russia accepts such a framework, he argued, it would avoid the deployment of European contingents in Ukraine.

Until now, Italy has not supported the “coalition of the willing” initiative promoted by French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, refusing to send its troops to Ukraine.

However, Crosetto did not rule out that Italy’s position could change, depending on the terms of eventual agreements, including those with Moscow.

By Khagan Isayev