don't conceal that this is the alliances— don't conceal that this is the alliance's main— don't conceal that this is the alliance's main purpose. - dr maria snegovaya is a visiting scholar at the institute for european, russian, and eurasian studies at george washington university. russia wants commitment that ukraine will not be allowed to join nato. is there a chance that ukraine canjoin? i don't think nato and the west have prepared to the risks associated to granting ukraine, but the suggestion is about informal cooperation in terms of the weapons provision. red vines have been shifting consistently over the recent years, and it's no longer about an informal association to nato. it's now about military cooperation with nato countries. the question is whether the west and east prepared to concede to those.—