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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   2872 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for March 2, 2025

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Is there an ELI5 reason why Russia wasn’t fully brought into the fold of NATO/EU/“the Western world” after the collapse of the Soviet Union? I’m pretty ignorant of the full history here, but I would think that given the politicians there were willing to peacefully dissolve the USSR that they wanted to fully integrate with the US/Europe. I would also think that the US/Europe would be eager to integrate Russia given that they’ve done so for most of the former eastern bloc countries, but obviously it hasn’t turned out that way.

You need to start with the NATO-Russia Founding Act signed in 1997 that outlined how Russia and NATO were supposed to cooperate and live in peace and harmony. (https://www.nato.int/cps/su/natohq/official_texts_25468.htm)

But the good feelings were short lived as the expansion of NATO into former Warsaw Pact countries and Operation Allied Force in 1999 were seen by Moscow as a betrayal of the agreement. Things got a bit better after 9/11 when there was a common enemy, but that again was quickly undone by Moscow’s view that NATO was sponsoring Color Revolutions in its periphery.

There was certainly windows of opportunity for closer cooperation, but there was a lot of mistrust and misunderstanding that stopped it from becoming a meaningful partnership.

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