George W. Bush in Vox Media

On War & Peace: 2008: Support for Ukraine in NATO is a threat to Russia

Ukraine isn't joining NATO anytime soon, and President Joe Biden has said as much. Still, NATO's open-door policy--the alliance's foundational principle that any qualified European country could join--cuts both ways. To the West, it's a statement of autonomy; to Russia, it's a threat. The core of the NATO treaty is Article 5, a commitment that an attack on any country is treated as an attack on the entire alliance--meaning any Russian military engagement with a Ukraine as NATO member would theoretically bring Moscow into conflict with the US and the 27 other NATO members.

The prospect of Ukraine and Georgia joining NATO has antagonized Putin at least since President George W. Bush expressed support for the idea in 2008. "That was a real mistake," said the ambassador to Ukraine under President Bill Clinton. "It drove the Russians nuts. It created expectations in Ukraine and Georgia, which then were never met. And so that just made that whole issue of enlargement a complicated one."

Source: Vox.com on Foreign Influences: "NATO expansion" Jan 27, 2022

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Page last updated: Dec 02, 2023