Moscow, 25 January 2022 (TDI): The Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergey Lavrov, addressed the questions on the principled position of Russia towards NATO, on 22 January. Lavrov stated that the reason was that the countries founded NATO to be against the USSR, and continue to be against the USSR
According to Lavrov, the doctrine documents of NATO, are the proof to show that the bloc still is against Russia. That is why Russia adopted its current principled position towards the bloc.
CREATION OF NATO
The founding members established the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949, four years after the start of the Cold War, and the ending of World War II. NATO’s purpose is to guarantee the freedom and security of its members through political and military means.
According to the official website, NATO promotes democratic values and enables members to consult and cooperate on defense; and security-related issues. This is to solve problems, build trust and, in the long run, prevent conflict.
The Organization has also a commitment to the peaceful resolution of disputes. If diplomatic efforts fail, it has the military power to undertake crisis-management operations. Furthermore, they have four activities which are decisions and consultations, operations and missions, then the partnerships, and finally to develop the means to respond to threats.
Currently, the Organization has 30 members. Those are the United Kingdom, Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey; and finally the United States.
The Organization’s guidelines can be found in the Washington Treaty, signed on April 4, 1949. The first ten members of the Organization established it to defend each other if another one attacked them.
COLD WAR
As mentioned before, NATO was created during the Cold War. This is the name of the indirect conflict between the former USSR and the United States that started in 1945 and officially ended in 1989.
It was a political, ideologic, economic, and cultural conflict, between two sides, the US and the Soviet Union. The reason was that after World War II, the two emerging superpowers with different ideologies for global supremacy.
The USSR was of the Eastern bloc or Oriental and was composed by the Members of the Union; where the Red Army was present, through the Varsovia Pact. This bloc defended socialism as a social and economic system and popular democracy as a political regime.
On the other side, there is the US and its bloc, composed of Japan, European countries, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. They defended capitalism as an economic system and democracy as a political system.
The cold war finally ended in 1989, when the Berlin Wall fell. The conflict was indirect because no side took arms against the other, but it was a permanent threat. Both countries accumulated enough nuclear weapons to destroy the planet. The moment that is considered the one with the most tension is the Missile Crisis of Cuba in 1962.
Both blocs relied heavily on their propaganda systems. The conflict was present through the direct, or indirect participation of the two countries in other conflicts. Those conflicts were the Korean War (1950-1953), Vietnam War (1955-1975), and Yon Kippur War (1973)
CURRENT SITUATION
Both countries are amid a tense situation currently due to the situation in Ukraine. The US side has the firm belief that Russia wants to invade Ukraine, whereas Russian diplomats reaffirm that is not the desire of the country.
On January 10th, the representatives of the two blocs convened in Geneva to start a round of talks and negotiations regarding Ukraine. Both held three rounds of talks, where they didn’t reach an agreement; but the representatives expressed their desire to reach one through diplomatic means.
Wendy Sherman, the leader of the delegation of the United States, expressed that the US considers the talks to be better than nothing. 4 days ago, the parties confirmed that they will continue to meet for the negotiation rounds in hopes of reaching an agreement to prevent the escalation.
Sergei A. Ryabkov, a Russian deputy foreign minister; who was the head of the Russian delegation, mentioned that there is no reason to fear an escalatory scenario here. He then added that the negotiations were long, professional, deep, and concrete; and without attempts to gloss sharp edges.
Ryabkov then mentioned that the Russian delegation believed that the US side expressed their willingness to take the Russian proposals seriously.
