Russia's shifting perceptions of NATO since the Cold War

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.

Conclusion

Peaceful statements made by NATO secretary general are an expression of too much optimism. At the Chicago summit it was stressed that speculations on possible attacks by NATO on Russia had no basis and were completely groundless. However there is no certainty that NATO is not a threat to Russia and Russia is not a threat to NATO .it seems like both parties have taken each other into consideration. Current leadership in Russia made it clear that there are no plans by Russia of joining NATO. The leaders prefer that the cooperation just remains on a lower level. The envoy Russia send to NATO stated that great powers do not join coalitions rather they are the ones who create coalitions. Russia terms itself as a great power but does not rule out the possibility of ever joining NATO some time in the future (Bohm, 2010).