Garčević Discusses Supplying Ukraine with Fighter Jets
On May 30, 2023, Ambassador Vesko Garčević, Professor of the Practice of International Relations at Boston University’s Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, took part in the political talk show – Context, broadcast on Al Jazeera Balkans. The show also featured Robert Barić, international security analyst and professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Zagreb, Croatia, and Maksim Kamenetsky, professor at Taras Shevchenko University in Kyiv, Ukraine.
Their discussion addressed the question of whether the potential delivery of the F-16 fighter jets to Kyiv would change the course of the war and further escalate the situation. Recently, several NATO members, led by the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, have signaled their willingness to send fighter jets to Ukraine while at the recent G7 summit in Hiroshima. President Joe Biden expressed his support to joint allied training programs for Ukrainian F-16 pilots.
Professor Garčević pointed out that although the Kremlin had warned NATO and the US that sending planes and training Ukrainian pilots would increase the risk of escalation, this would not further deteriorate the current dynamics in the relations between Moscow and the US, and NATO. The relations between the West and Russia are already at a historic low and it will remain so in the foreseeable future.
It will take time, almost a year, until the decision about the F-16 fighter jets is materialized. At this moment, it has more symbolical importance as evidence of steady Western support to Ukraine. Therefore, the immediate Russian reaction, although harsh, didn’t come from the first echelon of Russian politicians.
Watch the full discussion here.
Ambassador Vesko Garčević dealt with issues pertinent to European security and NATO for almost 14 years during his diplomatic career. In 2004, he was posted in Vienna to serve as Ambassador to Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. He was Montenegro’s Ambassador to NATO from 2010 until 2014 and served as Montenegro’s National Coordinator for NATO from 2015 until he joined the faculty at the Pardee School. Learn more about Ambassador Garčević on his faculty profile.