Vladimir Putin in Council on Foreign Relations

On Foreign Policy: Georgia & Ukraine in NATO was a red line since late 2000s

Russian leaders have long been wary of the eastward expansion of NATO, particularly as the alliance opened its doors to former Warsaw Pact states and ex-Soviet republics in the late 1990s (the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland) and early 2000s (Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia). Their fears grew in the late 2000s as the alliance stated its intent to admit Georgia and Ukraine at an unspecified point in the future.

For the Kremlin, the notion that Ukraine, a pillar of the Soviet Union with strong historic ties to Russia, would join NATO was a red line. Although NATO did not announce a formal membership plan for Ukraine and Georgia at the Bucharest Summit, the alliance did affirm "that these countries will become members of NATO," and it extended formal invitations to accession talks to Albania and Croatia, which became members in 2009. NATO expanded again in 2017, admitting Montenegro, and in 2020, welcoming North Macedonia.

Source: Council on Foreign Relations: "NATO / Ukraine" Jan 20, 2022

On Technology: Sanction online platforms for censoring Russian media

Over the last decade, Russian authorities have built legal tools and technical capacities to be able to control internet infrastructure and digital content. Moscow's most recent attempt to tame the internet consists of a pair of bills signed by President Putin on December 30, 2020 that sanction online platforms for censoring Russian media and fines them for not removing information banned in Russia. Source: Council on Foreign Relations on Foreign Influencers Feb 22, 2021

The above quotations are from Council on Foreign Relations. Click here for other excerpts from Council on Foreign Relations. Click here for other excerpts by Vladimir Putin. Click here for a profile of Vladimir Putin.
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Page last updated: Mar 16, 2022