Ukraine's ambition to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), was at the top of the reasons that prompted Russia, led by President Vladimir Putin, to launch a war on Ukraine to prevent the expansion of NATO to the east and approaching the Russian borders.

Putin has repeatedly expressed in his speeches the extent of Russian concern about the possibility of Ukraine joining NATO, demanding strict guarantees from the United States of America and its allies that this will not happen.

What is NATO, to which Moscow considers Kyiv's accession a red line?

North Atlantic Treaty

It is a European military alliance, established at the height of the Cold War between the two eastern camps represented in the Soviet Union and the West represented by America and Europe.

April 1949: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is established based on the North Atlantic Treaty signed in Washington in the same year.

The signatories to its founding document were only twelve countries: the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Portugal, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Luxembourg and Iceland.

The role of the Alliance during the founding period was to assume the task of defending Western Europe against the Soviet Union and the countries that formed the Warsaw Pact at that time in the context of the Cold War.

All member states of the alliance contribute a share of military forces and equipment.

NATO headquarters is based in the Belgian capital, Brussels.

The alliance was established for three goals: confronting the influence and expansion of the Soviet Union, eliminating the military enmity between Europeans and the cause of world wars through a greater presence of the United States on the continent, and finally encouraging Europeans to have greater political integration.

The First Secretary General of NATO, Lord Hastings Ismy, said that the alliance aims to "remain Russia outside Europe, America within Europe, and Germany within its borders."

1952: Turkey and Greece joined it, which withdrew from it between 1974 and 1980.

1955: West Germany joined it "previously" and again in 1990 after its union with East Germany.

1966: The French withdrawal from the unified military command of the alliance was the first and largest shakeup that NATO has witnessed in terms of structure and leadership since its establishment.

- France's withdrawal and the subsequent deportation of NATO forces, bases and military equipment from French territory came as a result of disagreements between Paris and Washington on several issues, not all of which are related to the affairs of the alliance.

1982: Spain joined the alliance.

1994: The Alliance announced the Partnership for Peace initiative under the name of strengthening the relationship with countries on the outskirts of the Atlantic Alliance, such as Bosnia, Serbia and Montenegro, and cooperating with them.

1995: NATO intervened in Bosnia and Herzegovina and deployed peacekeeping forces there.

Council "NATO Russia"

1997: Signing a founding agreement for the "NATO-Russia" Council to give Russia a consultative role in discussing issues of common interest.

1991: After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, it expanded until it included most of the Warsaw Pact countries.

1992: NATO intervened with its forces in the Bosnia and Herzegovina war, which lasted until 1995.

1999: The Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland joined, but the accession of the latter in particular represents an important symbolic shift because Poland witnessed in 1955 the birth of the Warsaw Pact on its soil, and its accession to NATO came 8 years after the alliance was dissolved following the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

NATO launched air strikes on Yugoslavia due to the conflict in Kosovo and NATO forces entered Kosovo.

2000: Putin raised the possibility of Russia joining NATO with former President Bill Clinton, and Clinton replied, "I have no objection."

2001: NATO sent troops to Macedonia for a peacekeeping mission.

2002: With the beginning of the conflict in Kosovo, Russia suspended all its relations with NATO, so that the NATO-Russia Council was officially activated.

2003: NATO was assigned the mission of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.

2004: The NATO summit announced the "Istanbul Cooperation Initiative" calling for what it called cooperation with the countries of the Middle East to promote stability and support peace in the region.

Bulgaria, the three Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), Romania, then Slovakia and Slovenia joined, and this was one of the largest accessions in the history of the alliance.

strategic shift

The accession of the three Baltic states, despite their small size, as well as four other states from Eastern Europe, represented an important strategic shift in the balance of power.

This move put NATO directly on Russia's eastern borders.

If the alliance accepts the demands of Ukraine and Georgia joining it, the military arm of the West will have completely encircled Russia from its east and south.

2006: At the Latvian summit, the alliance called on other countries such as Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia and Montenegro to cooperate officially with it.

NATO forces intervened to mitigate the effects of the earthquake that struck Pakistan.

The alliance also intervened to provide relief to those affected by Hurricane Katrina, which hit the United States.

open door policy

2008: NATO officially adopted a policy revealing its adoption of the open-door policy to Georgia and Ukraine.

2009: Paris regained its position in the command structure of the alliance after a withdrawal that lasted for more than four decades.

January 2009: Croatia and Albania joined the alliance, bringing the number of its members to 28.

2011: NATO intervened in Libya and helped topple the regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

2017: US President Donald Trump adopted a shocking position to European allies, describing the alliance as "obsolete" and no longer needed.

June 5, 2017: North Macedonia joined NATO.

2018: Trump said during his unveiling of the new missile defense strategy of the United States, "We will be with NATO one hundred percent, but as I said to the member states of the alliance: you have to change the equipment, you have to pay."

The value of the US contribution to the NATO budget is about 70% of the total military expenditures of the alliance.

March 27, 2020: The number of NATO countries has reached thirty countries after the accession of North Macedonia, twenty-seven of them are European, and the rest are the United States, Canada and Australia.

7 February 2022: NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg stated that "NATO seeks to establish a long-term military presence in Eastern Europe to enhance its deterrence power."

Alliance structuring

The North Atlantic Council is the principal political decision-making body of the Alliance and meets once a week, or as often as the need arises, at various levels.

It is chaired by the Secretary-General who helps the members reach agreement on major issues.

The alliance also includes a network of committees that deal with all topics on its agenda, from political issues to the most complex technical issues.

When implementing political decisions with military considerations, the main actors involved are the Military Commission and the Military Command Structure.

NATO has limited permanent forces at its disposal, and when it agrees to a military operation, member states contribute their forces on a voluntary basis.

The Secretary-General is the highest-ranking international civil servant in the Alliance, responsible for guiding the process of consultation and decision-making, is the principal spokesperson for the Alliance and heads the organization's international staff.

military expenditures

The total military expenditures of NATO countries amount to more than 1.2 trillion dollars, most of which go to the United States, which alone accounts for 881 billion dollars annually. The United Kingdom comes in second place with 72 billion dollars, then Germany with about 64 billion dollars.

Article 5 of the NATO founding agreement states that any armed or military aggression against any member state of the alliance is tantamount to an attack on all its member states.

Under this principle, all states must act militarily to protect the state that has been attacked, whether by moving forces, or providing this state with weapons and equipment.

The principle of common defense was activated once in the history of the alliance, with the participation of all NATO countries in the invasion of Afghanistan due to the exposure of the United States to a hostile attack after the events of September 11, 2001.

diffusion map

The total number of soldiers in all NATO countries is 3.5 million, making it the largest army in the world.

- The United States monopolizes the largest number with about 1.2 million soldiers, 20% of American soldiers are deployed abroad, and the largest number of them are in Japan (55,000 soldiers), then Turkey comes as the second largest country in the alliance with a number of 440,000 soldiers.

- It appears from the map of the deployment of NATO forces that they are concentrated in the Baltic countries in particular, near the Russian borders, and this deployment is what increases Moscow’s concern, especially since it is attached to advanced American defense missile systems.

7,000 NATO troops are distributed in Estonia (800 soldiers), Latvia (1,200 soldiers), Lithuania (1,200 soldiers), and Poland (4,000 soldiers).

The reason for this high number in Poland is the presence of important US military bases there, in addition to the presence of an American military base in Romania that was built at a cost of $800 million.

A 300-strong US Navy contingent is also deployed in Norway to monitor the Arctic Circle, which it shares a border with Russia.