NATO and Russia: A Perpetual New Beginning

After a brief period of positive relations between Russia and NATO in the early 1990s, a whole series of crises in relations have led to a general deterioration of the relationship. These crises have resulted from two very different conceptions of self-identity and of the future of security in Europe. Although the divisions became evident already in before the turn of the millennium, the policies of Presidents Putin and Medvedev aimed at rebuilding Russia’s role as a great power contributed further to the divisions. Three areas of NATO policy have been central to Russia’s growing opposition to NATO- expansion eastward, the development of a missile shield, and the globalization of NATO’s involvement. Prospects for a real reconciliation between Russia and NATO are not positive.

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  • Among the most perceptive analyses of Russian foreign policy have been Andrei Tsygankov, Bobo Lo and Dimitri Trenin; See Andrei Tsygankov, Russia’s Foreign Policy: Change and Continuity in National Identity, Lanham, MD, Rowan and Littlefield, 2nd edition, 2010; Bobo Lo, Vladimir Putin and the Evolution of Russian Foreign Policy, New York, Wiley, John & Sons, 2003; Dimitri Trenin, Getting Russia Right, Washington, Carnegie Foundation, 2007.
  • Andres Fogh Rasmussen, “A New Beginning for NATO and Russia”, Project Syndicate, 20 October 2010.
  • David Yost, NATO Transformed: The Alliance’s New Roles in International Security, Washington, D.C., United States Institute of Peace Press, 1998, p. 131.
  • An excellent recent analysis of NATO and its role in the second decade of the 21st century can be found in Gülnur Aybet and Rebecca R. Moore (eds.), NATO: In Search of a Vision, Washington, DC, Georgetown University Press, 2010.
  • As expressed in the North Atlantic Treaty, Article 5 reads “an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all”.
  • Article 2 of the North Atlantic Treaty declares that “the Parties will contribute toward the further development of peaceful and friendly international relations by strengthening their free institutions, by bringing about a better understanding of the principles upon which these institutions are founded […].”
  • Yost, NATO Transformed, p. 269; Yost’s study, along with Gülnur Aybet’s, A European Security Architecture after the Cold War, New York, St Martin’s Press, 2000, remain the best studies of the process of restructuring of NATO and its mission.
  • Madeleine Albright, “The Right Balance will Secure NATO’s Future”, The Financial Times, 7 December 1998.
  • For a discussion of the split in US relations with some of its European allies see Roger E. Kanet, “The Bush Revolution in U.S. Security Policy”, in Roger E. Kanet (ed.), The New Security Environment: The Impact on Russia, Central and Eastern Europe, Aldershot, UK, Ashgate Publishing, 2005, pp. 11-29.
  • Stephen Larrabee, “Russia, Ukraine, Central Europe: The Return of Geopolitics”, Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 63, No. 2 (Spring/Summer 2010), p. 34; Sandra Fernandes and Licínia Simão, “Competing for Eurasia: Russian and European Union Perspectives”, in Roger E. Kanet and Maria Raquel Freire (eds.), Key Players and Regional Dynamics in Eurasia. The Return of the Great Game, Houndmills, UK, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010, p. 115.
  • Fernandes and Simão, “Competing for Eurasia”, p. 115. For an excellent assessment of the shifts in Russian policy under Vladimir Putin, see Trenin, Getting Russia Right.
  • Larrabee, “Russia, Ukraine, Central Europe”, p. 35.
  • Nikolay Petrov and Michael McFaul, “The Essence of Putin’s Managed Democracy”, at http://www. carnegieendowment.org/2005/10/18/essence-of-putin-s-managed-democracy/2a3 [last visited 15 November 2011].
  • reforms; fostering cooperation between new and old members of the Alliance; promoting a common European security governance; increasing transparency in the sector of defence; promoting shared values on the European continent; increasing cooperation with other international organizations such as the EU, OSCE, and the UN; maintaining strong transatlantic ties. NATO, “Study on NATO Enlargement”, at http://www.fas.org/man/nato/natodocs/enl-9501.htm [last visited 7 January 2012].
  • Cited in Yost, NATO Transformed, p. 131.
  • Cited in Miriam Elder, “Putin: Still Suspicious of NATO”, Globalpost, 27 April 2011.
  • Russia’s “gas wars” with Ukraine had other objectives, in addition to demonstrating the latter’s economic dependence on Russia.
  • Rachwald, “A ‘Reset’ of NATO-Russia Relations”, p. 118.
  • Pouliot, “The Year NATO Lost Russia”, p. 252.
  • Zbigniew Brzezinski, The Grand Chessboard, New York, Basic Books, 1997.
  • J. L. Black, Russia Faces NATO Expansion, Lanham, MD, Roman and Littlefield, 2000, p 8.
  • Cited in Maxime Larivé, “The Building of the US Missile Shield in Europe. The Triangular Relationship: US, EU, Russia”, EUMA, Vol. 11, No. 8 (June 2011).
  • “Opening Remarks and Answers by Russian minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov at Press Conference after the Meeting of the Russia-NATO Council at Foreign Affairs Ministers Level”, Press Release, Polwire, at http://www.polwire.com/viewwire.aspx?prid=6qnftn5hqxll7c3m2a0k7j9c9umkgs9 q6l3714ceo34bhey [last visited 7 January 2012].
  • Luke Harding, “Obama Abandons Missile Defence Shield in Europe”, The Guardian, 17 September 2009.
  • NATO, “Strategic Concept. Active Engagement, Modern Defence”.
  • James Blitz and Daniel Dombey, “NATO Hopes to Rebuild Ties with Moscow”, The Financial Times, 26 October 2010.
  • Roberto Zadra, “NATO, Russia and Missile Defence. Towards the Lisbon Summit”, The RUSI Journal, Vol. 155, No. 5 (October/November 2010), p. 15.
  • Pouliot, “The Year NATO Lost Russia”, p. 251.
  • Charles Clover and James Blitz, “Medvedev Warns US over Missile Shield Plan”, The Financial Times, 23 November 2010.
  • Zadra, “NATO, Russia and Missile Defence”, p. 14.
  • Ivo Daadler and James Goldgeier, “Global NATO”, Foreign Affairs, Vol. 85, No. 5 (September/ October 2006), p. 105.
  • Ministerstvo Inostrannykh Del Rossiiskoi Federatsii, “Opening Remarks and Answers by Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov at Press Conference after the Meeting of the Russia-NATO Council at Foreign Affairs Ministers Level”, Brussels, 8 December 2011, at http://www.mid.ru/brp_4. nsf/0/38AEE9F5B14F22D84425796200492F19 [last visited 8 January 2012].
  • NATO, “Istanbul Summit Communiqué”, Press Release (2004)096, at http://www.nato.int/docu/ pr/2004/p04-096e.htm [last visited 21 December 2011].
  • Zbigniew Brzezinski, “Ukraine is neither a pawn nor a queen but a very important figure,” The Day, at http://www.day.kiev.ua/13552 [last visited 7 January 2012].
  • Daadler and Goldgeier, “Global NATO”, p. 105. 54 Ibid. 55 See figure 1.
  • The role of the Secretary General has considerably changed since the end of the Cold War from a secondary figure to become the visage of the Alliance. This trend started with SG Manfred Wörner until today. These SGs have contributed to the transformation of this Cold War institution by making it a more political and diplomatic Alliance. The SGs have increased the visibility and influence of the Alliance through the development of global support.
  • Rasmussen, “NATO and Russia”.
  • Ryan C. Hendrickson, “NATO’s First Prime Minister. Rasmussen’s Leadership Surge”, The RUSI Journal, Vol. 155, No. 5 (October/November 2010), p. 26.
  • As Joan DeBardeleben has demonstrated, the admission of the post-communist states of Central Europe and the Baltics to the EU compounded the EU’s relations with Russia. See her “The Impact of EU Enlargement on the EU-Russian Relationship”, in Roger E. Kanet (ed.), A Resurgent Russia and the West: The European Union, NATO and Beyond, Dordrecht:The Netherlands, Republic of Letters Publishing, 2009, pp. 93-112.
PERCEPTIONS: Journal of International Affairs-Cover
  • ISSN: 1300-8641
  • Yayın Aralığı: Yılda 2 Sayı
  • Başlangıç: 1996
  • Yayıncı: T.C Dışişleri Bakanlığı