Clinton said that Yeltsin did not believe in the threat of NATO expansion to the east

“I looked at him (at Yeltsin. -

) and asked: “Do you really think that I will use an air base in Poland to bomb Russia?” To which he said: “No, but many fragile old women in the European part of Russia believe this because their historical memory includes memories of Hitler, and their grandparents - of Napoleon.

I replied that I recognized it,” Clinton said.

He also said that in a conversation with Yeltsin, he expressed concern that in the future the threat to the world would come from non-state actors and authoritarian countries that transfer weapons of mass destruction to terrorist groups.

Earlier, the head of the NATO Military Committee, Dutch Admiral Rob Bauer, at a press conference in Tallinn, said that the alliance began planning its expansion near the borders of Russia "several years ago."

The American Conservative (TAC) editor-in-chief Patrick Buchanan said NATO's eastward expansion has escalated the situation in Ukraine.