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The 2009 NATO Summit: What Will It Mean for Ukraine?

March 20, 2025

International Conference
sponsored by

The American Institute in Ukraine

and the

International Strategic Studies Association

The 2009 NATO Summit: What Will It Mean for Ukraine?

April 2, 2025
Kiev, Opera Hotel

8:30-9:00:

Arrival, registration, coffee

9:00-9:15

Welcome from AIU Director Anthony Salvia (in Russian; Mr. Salvia worked in President Reagan’s Administration, later served as director of the Moscow Bureau of Radio Liberty), introduction of Ambassador James Bissett (last Canadian Ambassador to Yugoslavia, Chief of Mission of International Organization for Migration, Moscow)

9:15-9:45

Keynote address Ambassador James Bissett

9:50-11:15

PANEL ONE: ISSA’s Yossef Bodansky plus General Aleksandr Kuzmuk. (Rada Deputy, former Defense Minister) Moderator: AIU U.S. Deputy Director James Jatras (former foreign policy advisor to the U.S. Senate, Director of American Council for Kosovo).

Topic: “NATO's mission and national interests of Ukraine and the US.”

  • What is, or should be, NATO's mission today?
  • Does Ukraine in NATO enhance Ukraine's security? That of the United States? Of Europe?
  • Ukraine and NATO standards: how much will it cost, and is it worth it?
  • NATO's future as a defensive alliance: what are the real threats?
  • (To be addressed by Gen. Kuzmuk) Where do Ukraine's parties and politicians stand on NATO and Ukraine's possible admission?

11:20-11:45

Coffee break

11:50-1:15

PANEL TWO: Vlad Sobell (Daiwa Institute of Research, London) plus Dmitry Vidrin (political analyst of European affairs). Brief presentation by Leonid Kozhara (Rada Deputy). Moderator: Salvia.

Topic: “Intra-NATO politics: What about the Allies?”

  • Bucharest 2008: why no MAP for Ukraine?
  • What is "Euro-Atlantic integration"? NATO vis-a-vis the EU.
  • Berlin, Paris, and London: what is their opinion and how much does it count?
  • The recent Europe-Ukraine-Russia gas crisis: how did it affect Europe's thinking?
  • Obama Administration policy toward Ukraine and managing the Allies: change or continuity?

1:20-2:45

Lunch and Press Conference

Press conference participants:Ambassador Bissett, Sobell, Bodansky, Salvia, Jatras. Moderator: AIU's Ukrainian Deputy Director Yulia Savostina (Experienced telejounalist, media consultant to Rada Deputies of Party of Regions and Yuliya Tymoshenko Bloc).

PANEL THREE: 2:50-4:15

Jatras plus Aleksandr Buhalov (General Director of FOM-Ukraine). Brief presentation by Andrey Yermolaev (“Sofia” Social Studies Center) Moderator: Sobell.

Topic: What Do Ukrainians Think About NATO?

  • US-Ukraine Commission as substitute for MAP
  • The December 2008 US-Ukraine Charter on Strategic Partnership and the US Presence Post in Simferopol
  • Ukrainian popular opinion on joining NATO - the split country

PANEL FOUR: 4:20-5:45

Salvia plus Vyacheslav Igrunov (Director, International Institute of Humanitarian and Political Studies). Brief presentation by Valery Konovalyuk (Rada Deputy). Moderator: Dmitry Dzhangirov (media expert and TV talk show host)

Topic: NATO, US, Ukraine and Russia.

  • Ukraine as a bridge between Russia and the West -- or arena of competition?
  • Is NATO an anti-Russian alliance?
  • The August 2008 war in the Caucasus and relevance to NATO's expansion
  • The US-Russia agenda (arms control, Iran, Afghanistan, missiles in Poland and Czech Republic): For Russia, is Ukraine just another item on the list or qualitatively different?

5:45-8:00

AIU Inaugural Reception.