The relations between the NATO and Russia has been of great debate over years. The paper looks at the current interaction between Russia and NATO and goes back to the history and the root cause of the current relations between the two. The paper also highlights the points of differences that are predominant between the two.
Russia NATO relations
Russia was among the main opponents of NATO countries and despite this there is a history of collaboration between NATO and Russia which dates way back in 1991.This was when Russia became part of the North Atlantic Cooperation Council. The Russian Federation in 1994 took part in a project titled partnership for peace and in 1997; the founding act of the NATO-Russian council was signed in France. It was to cover issues regarding security, mutual relations and security between NATO and Russia. There was the establishment of a diplomatic mission from Russia to NATO in 1998.
The relations between Russia and NATO continued developing as a result of the establishment of NATO-Russia council in 2002. Russia is however not a member of NATO and is not interested in joining its ranks (Bohm, 2010).However, the Russian ministry of defense carries out joint exercises together with NATO, as well as rescue and peace keeping operations. The cooperation between Russia and NATO has developed into several sectors; like military cooperation, fighting terrorism, industrial cooperation, cooperation on Afghanistan and so on. The cooperation on Afghanistan includes transportation of non-military ISAF freight by Russia and the fight of production of drugs locally.
The NATO-Russia council has been used as the official diplomatic tool for handling joint projects and security issues between Russia and NATO. It involves building of consensus, holding consultations, making joint decisions and taking joint actions. Despite this cooperation Russia still has views that it holds regarding NATO.
How Russia regards NATO
The Soviet Union was an enemy of most of the capitalist powers particularly the United States. There was the cold war and race for arms between the world leaders which resulted to building up of tension .This clearly indicates that NATO and the Soviet Union considered each other as a threat. This left no room for cooperation therefore; cooperation was out of the question. The collapse of USSR occurred more than 20 years ago and the relationship between NATO and Russia has not seen any radical change. In fact, very little if any changes have taken place when it comes to the relations between NATO and Russia. When the cooperation began Russia regarded NATO as its partner and the partnership between these two was seen to be growing. However with time Russia changed its perceptions on NATO .In 2006, the heads of the alliance between NATO and Russia have been seen to have improving their military apparatus in a bid to cover Southern Asia and East of Europe (Vasilenkov, 2012). NATO showed support for national revolutions and introducing their interests in Central Asia. Russia viewed this as a way NATO was using to surround Russia so as to eventually seize it in the future. Therefore Russia views NATO as its threat and not a genuine partner.
Russia views NATO as not being able to conduct combat operations against Russia which can be successful. It also sees NATO as lacking enough power and the only option they might have is using preemptive strikes by the U.S. against the nuclear forces that Russia has.
Events that have intensified how Russia regards NATO
The events in 2008 of Georgia brought a negative impact on the relations between Russia and NATO. This was the Georgia war and recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. This brought a strain in the relationship between Russia and NATO. Later Russia was condemned for the recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia regions found in Georgia as being independent states (Bohm, 2010). The NATO secretary general at that time viewed this move by Russia as not being right and termed is a violation of resolutions made by UN Security Council. On the other hand Russia insisted that this recognition was done based on the situation on the ground and it was in accordance to the UN Charter. NATO had taken an initiative to suspend t6he relation between them, and Russia completely terminated the cooperation agreement that existed. All this happened after the events of Georgia 2008 and they really had an impact on the negative views that Russia had on NATO (Vasilenkov, 2012).
The relations between NATO and Russia were further strained when Russia diplomats were expelled by NATO in 2009.They were expelled on the basis that they were on a spying mission and were not genuine diplomats. This intensified the tension which was already created by the NATO military exercises in Georgia as proposed by the Russian president Medvedev. He claimed that no amount of convincing can be done to change their minds regarding the planned NATO exercises in Georgia. He claims that no one can carry out exercises in a place where a war had occurred. In 2011, the president Medvedev went on to say that if Russia had not joined in the South Ossetia war in 2008, NATO would have went ahead with their expansion eastwards.
Despite all these, relations were resumed and there were peaceful statements from Andreas Fogh but facts on the issue give a different perspective on the matter. For instance there was an increase in NATO naval activity on the Black sea as noted by the General Staff of Armed forces in the Russian Federation. Experts say that the invasion of Afghanistan by NATO forces led to an increase of drug flow from the country. It is an interesting point to note that many Russian citizens are victims of the Afghan heroin. The active drug use in Russia federation is as a result of Afghan potion. Russia views Afghanistan as guarantee of the inviolability of drug trade in the country.
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