70-year-old Rivalry between Russia and NATO

Insight Bureau: Russia Ukraine conflict is the currently most hyped topic worrying the entire world. Everyone is so hopeful for NATO’s contribution to the conflict. But little did everyone know about Russia and NATO’s long term rivalry.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is the prime reason behind the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

After the World War II the Soviet Union refused to withdraw forces from Eastern Europe and circled Berlin. This elicited the US for the formation of NATO to counter Soviet expansionism in 1949. NATO was formed of 12 member countries ( US, Britain, France, Canada, Italy, the Netherlands, Iceland, Belgium, Luxemburg, Norway, Portugal, and Denmark).  As per now NATO has 30 member countries.

NATO is a military alliance established in 1949 by the United States, Canada, France, the United Kingdom, and eight other European countries. If any NATO member country is invaded, this will be considered as an invasion of all NATO member countries. All NATO member countries will act against the invasion.

Ukraine wants to be part of NATO whereas Russia is against it.  Putin had earlier demanded a guarantee from NATO that Ukraine would not be given its membership which has been rejected.

World War II left the world in two camps (The US and the Soviet Union ). On December 25, 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed into 15 new countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania  from the Soviet Union have joined NATO in 2004 and now if Ukraine joins NATO, Russia will be totally circled by NATO members.

In the other hand, Ukraine wants to join NATO to strengthen its military power and has repeatedly stated its intention to become a NATO member.

Comparatively, Ukraine is a smaller nation than Russia. Both troops and defence budget of Russia is more than that of Ukraine. No military organization other than NATO can guarantee Ukraine’s safety in this critical situation.