Russia embarked on a military invasion of Ukraine.
It is the approach between NATO and Ukraine that President Putin continues to strongly oppose.
As fierce battles continue, he repeatedly criticizes "NATO's military activities pose a danger."
What kind of organization is NATO in the first place?
Why is Putin so particular about NATO?
Why can't Ukraine join NATO?
With experts, we will explain in detail various questions related to NATO, with a background.
Why was NATO founded?
Originally, it was a "military alliance born to counter the Soviet Union."
Official name: North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO)
Established: 1949
Headquarters: Brussels, Belgium
Initial member countries: 12 countries
Current member countries: 30 countries * Listed at the end of the article
Relationship with Japan : Japan is not a member country but a partner country
After World War II, the world was divided into socialist countries centered on the former Soviet Union = "eastern side" and capitalist countries centered on Europe and the United States = "western side".
There was a fierce conflict over differences in values for politics, the economy, and the social system.
A military alliance called "NATO" on the west side and "Warsaw Pact" on the east side was formed, and the era called "Cold War = Cold War" continued, in which the two camps continued to glaring without direct armed conflict.
NATO's original mission was "collective defense."
In fact, if there is an attack on a member country, the attack is regarded as an attack on the entire alliance, and a system is established in which the alliance assists the attacked country.
This is called the exercise of the "right of collective self-defense".
However, the right of collective self-defense was not actually exercised, as it is called the "Cold War."
In 1991, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Warsaw Pact on the eastern side was dismantled.
What is NATO's "eastern expansion" that Russia is wary of?
From here, I will explain based on the story of Mr. Taisuke Kuro, a senior researcher at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, who is familiar with Russia's diplomatic and security policies.
Even after the dismantling of the Warsaw Pact, NATO survives.
After that, many Eastern European countries that were "eastern" began to desire to join NATO.
Eastern European countries, which had a one-party dictatorship, became independent one after another and began to seek a way to democratization.
It was because I thought that if I joined NATO, I would be recognized as a member of democratic countries and hope for stable economic growth.
In fact, NATO's "eastern expansion" has progressed, with Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary officially joining in 1999, and the three Baltic states officially joining in 2004.
Russia will become more cautious about these movements.
This is because it has a history of being attacked from the west, such as Nazi Germany, through land.
For this reason, Mr. Kurosaki points out that there is a strong awareness that Eastern European countries are a "buffer zone" to avoid armed conflict, and that NATO is reluctant to approach them.
Why can't Ukraine join?
Reason 1
In Ukraine, when a government closer to the United States was established, NATO became active in joining NATO, and NATO also "supported future accession of Ukraine" at the NATO summit held in Bucharest, the capital of Romania in 2008. ..
However, despite the strong hopes of the current Zelensky administration, it is difficult to join NATO.
Mr. Kurosaki cites two main reasons.
The first is pointed out by member states that Ukraine's political system does not meet the standards of democratic system required by NATO.
It has long been pointed out that Ukraine has been infested with conglomerates and politicians, and has not been able to escape its deep-seated corruption.
Mr. Taisuke Kurosaki
"NATO after the Cold War is not just a military alliance, but the political reality, capitalist degrees of freedom, corruption issues, and the political system and economy that have approached Western standards. The main principle is that you can't join unless you come to the point where you can share the mechanism of the membership. Therefore, even if membership is supported, it actually takes a lot of time. "
Why can't Ukraine join?
Reason 2
Second, and more importantly, the member states' desire not to inspire Russia.
France, Germany and others have consistently shown a negative stance, saying that if Ukraine joins, Russia could take military action that threatens the security of Europe as a whole.
"To be honest, I don't do it because I know that the issue of Ukraine's accession is an insanely sensitive issue for Russia."
Even so, there was a premise that once promised to "support future accession", NATO as "support to enhance the ability to defend itself" to Ukraine, support for military organizational reform and human resource development through training, Furthermore, we have provided weapons by member countries.
Why is Russia against NATO?
Mr. Kurosaki points out that NATO's intervention in conflicts in other countries has contributed to worsening relations with Russia.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the security threats in Europe will change dramatically.
Countries that cannot maintain their normal national functions due to conflicts and worsening civil war, so-called "failed states," will become more prominent.
NATO will find new significance in "crisis management" that intervenes in the conflict of "failed states".
A symbolic example is the "Kosovo Conflict".
In Kosovo, the autonomous province of Serbia in the former Yugoslavia, in the latter half of the 1990s, Albanian residents, who make up the majority of the population, sought separation from Serbia, and a fierce armed conflict broke out with Serbia.
As criticism of the Serbian genocide of civilian genocide increased, NATO said in 1999 that it would "stop the humanitarian crisis" without first passing a UN Security Council resolution. We have launched a large-scale air bombing on military facilities.
Russia was against it at the Security Council.
"Ideally it would be passed by the UN Security Council, but if that isn't possible anymore, NATO will decide to intervene in the military without waiting for a resolution to stop the humanitarian crisis. The first example is Kosovo. It was a "humanitarian intervention" in the United Nations. At this time, it was forced to virtually ignore Russia. "
Did Russia also want to join NATO?
However, according to Mr. Kurosaki, Russia did not regard NATO as an "enemy" immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and did not oppose "eastern expansion" head-on.
President Putin did not have any negative feelings toward NATO when he took office, and at one point he asked US President Bill Clinton, "When will Russia enter NATO?"
However, when US-Russian relations deteriorated, President Putin made his first public criticism of NATO enlargement in his speech in Munich, Germany in 2007, clarifying his opposition.
Is Russia's justification imitating NATO?
"There was genocide in eastern Ukraine. Russia intervenes humanely to defend it. Then it approves an independent state."
Russia continues these claims in its military "intervention" in Ukraine.
Regarding this, Mr. Kurosaki pointed out that it was "a" imitation "of the logic that NATO once used," and this time Russia is abusing the logic of "humanitarian intervention" that NATO made in Kosovo at that time.
"Russia has reopened and is now saying,'NATO has done the same thing, why only we blame, you guys have done the same thing,'" imitating the logic of Kosovo. I'm doing it. "
Why is NATO not intervening in the military now?
Mr. Kurosaki points out that
1 the power of the United States is weakening and
2 Russia is a nuclear power
.
"One big change in the times is that the United States has lost its overwhelming military power and willingness to intervene in the military, unlike immediately after the Cold War. Has already abandoned. Also, Russia's intervention in the conflict between the parties would be a head-on confrontation with Russia, a military power with a total force of 900,000, and if escalated, it would definitely be a nuclear war. That's not the case with Kosobo. ”
NATO said,“ We will continue to support the people of the U.S.A. ” It has been clarified that it will not dispatch military troops to the United States, and it has maintained a stance of not conducting direct intervention with military power from the beginning.
Why did things get so serious?
Mr. Kurosaki pointed out that Russia should be the most criticized for this conflict, and one of the reasons why the situation became so serious is the structure of the post-Cold War European security system centered on NATO. I also analyze that it is also there.
"What is the fundamental problem is that the security decision-making mechanism that excludes Russia continues. This time, it is not just a problem of Ukraine, but a problem of Ukraine. It's the whole medium- to long-term European security order. If we don't solve this, I think the same thing will happen in the future. "
List of all 30 NATO member countries (in order of membership)
1949: Iceland, USA, Italy, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Canada, Denmark, Norway, France, Belgium, Portugal, Luxembourg (12 original member countries)
1952: Greece, Turkey
1955: Germany (then "West Germany") )
1982: Spain
1999: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland
2004: Estonia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania
2009: Albania, Croatia
2017: Montenegro
2020: Northern Macedonia