Blinken said Russia refused to join NATO in the ’90s. Moscow awaits clarification

“Let’s get it clear”

Maria Zakharova, the official representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told socialbites.ca that US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken had Russia invited to join NATO in the 1990s, but Moscow refused to join the alliance.

“I want to understand what you mean specifically? “History, document, statement – explain how, when, to whom and under what conditions NATO proposed it,” he said.

“This is not what they wanted to do”

Transcript of Blinken’s interview published on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website. Talking about Russia’s fears of NATO’s eastward expansion, the host suggested a “crazy idea” – “invite Russia to join the alliance”, then the Russian president “nothing to worry about”.

“You know what? They were talking about it in the 1990s. Well, the Russians decided that this is not what they wanted to do,” Blinken replied.

He also believes that Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine began, among other things, to weaken NATO.

“President Putin has succeeded in speeding up everything he has tried to prevent. He wanted to prevent an increase in NATO at the expense of Ukraine. Now this (the expansion of the alliance – “socialbites.ca”) actually happened at the expense of Finland and Sweden. He wanted to divide the West, to divide the alliance. But they are more united than ever before. And as I said, he wanted to subjugate Ukraine, to make it a part of Russia. It won’t happen. So all we see is that Putin achieved the exact opposite of what he said he wanted,” he said.

He emphasized that NATO is a defensive alliance and that if one of the countries is attacked, they come together to make sure that the others will intervene and protect it.

“He (alliance – socialbites.ca) has no aggressive intentions towards Russia. It has never attacked Russia, it will not attack Russia. It will not attack Russia,” Blinken said.

“We kept the doors open”

April 7, former US President Bill Clinton said In a column for The Atlantic, it was written that the United States offered Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin the possibility of Russia joining NATO.

According to him, relations between the North Atlantic Alliance and Moscow improved in the 1990s. Russia took part in the Partnership for Peace program, at the same time the founding Russia-NATO agreement on mutual relations, cooperation and security was concluded, and the USA provided financial assistance to the Russian Federation for the withdrawal of its military from the Baltic. states. In addition, Russia and NATO jointly participated in various peacekeeping operations.

“As I have made clear to Yeltsin and then to his successor, Vladimir Putin, we have kept NATO’s doors open to Russian entry all this time,” Clinton said.

Toward the end of his second term, he recalled that in 1999 Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic joined NATO despite Russia’s attempts to resist it. In later administrations, 11 more countries joined the alliance.

“Yes, NATO expanded despite Russia’s objections, but it wasn’t just about US relations with Russia,” the politician said.

However, the press secretary of Russian President Dmitry Peskov on April 11 denied the words of the former US president.

“I know that the American side has repeatedly talked about the impossibility of such membership (Russian Federation in NATO – socialbites.ca). And actually, de facto, we were told the doors were closed because it was basically impossible,” he said.

“A very measured response”

On February 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke about how he asked Russia about the possibility of joining NATO.

During his visit to Moscow in 2000 <...> US President Bill Clinton asked him what America would think about accepting Russia into NATO. “The response to my question was very measured,” Putin said.

According to him, NATO’s true position on this issue showed itself in the further actions of the alliance. Thus, the West supported terrorists in the North Caucasus, ignored Moscow’s security concerns, and NATO expanded eastward. The head of state spoke about the five waves of enlargement of the North Atlantic Alliance.

Putin is confident that the USA does not need such a large country as Russia and will try to hinder its development. The Russian leader added that the alliance completely ignored the warnings and protests of the Russian Federation about the advance of military infrastructure and equipment to the Russian borders.

Putin said, “Sorry, they just ‘spit’ on them and did whatever they wanted, whatever they saw as necessary,” said Putin, adding that “the dog barks, but the caravan, according to the famous proverb, will continue to do the same in the future.” continues’.”