I knew you will say that. Lest not get into fight over particular words. An ally, a friend and the one being promised is just invaded. That's what it appears. NATO or UK US or not.... no help on the ground.
A Ukraine should have understood that too...
30 allies together represent more than 50 percent of the global economy NATO warns Russia of ‘high price’ for any attack on Ukraine Economic sanctions on table as allied foreign ministers met in Latvia to discuss new border threat. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg | Gints Ivuskans/AFP...
defence.pk
Mere economic and political defence which was taken wrongly by Ukraine. What if there's no Ukraine anymore? But this is all NATO or individual West for you.
A high economic price, no one ever said NATO would militarily confront Russia in order to save Ukraine, which is why Ukraine was so desperate to gain membership, because it knew an invasion was coming.
Also, of the three nations mentioned, one is the Russian Federation, so your example doesn't really make sense here.
If there is no Ukraine anymore, that just makes Russia's neighbours all the more likely to join NATO, Finland and other European nations are already now in talks about joining, and they point out Russian actions in Ukraine as the cause.
Also, I disagree that these are "merely" sanctions. Russia's economy is on the verge of collapse right now. The EU has just banned market access to Russia, and stopped all trade with Russia. Russia can use it's oil leverage, but that will just make sure the EU will expedite it's move away from Russian oil and gas.
Before you mention Russian gas, think about it this way, why doesn't Pakistan trade with India, despite it being cheap and economically beneficial? Because it's a matter of sovereignty and Pakistan fully expects India to use it's trade leverage against Pakistani interests. The Europeans won't compromise their sovereignty just to pay cheap gas prices.
Russians made a massive blunder by thinking their gas leverage would save them from an economic depression. The Russians have pretty much guaranteed that the Europeans never trust them, and they will guaranteed to lead Europe away from Russia.
