Oddly enough, Putin, who now calls NATO troops in Eastern Europe” Russia, “wanted the Russian Federation to join the Alliance.
Russian President Vladimir Putin during his first presidential term (2000-2004) wanted his country to join in NATO, but put forward certain conditions.
Former NATO Secretary General (1999-2004) George Robertson spoke about this, informs The Guardian.
According to Robertson, Putin at their first the meeting made it clear that he wants Russia to be part of Western Europe.
George Robertson recalled that Putin then asked when Russia would be invited to NATO. To which the President of the Russian Federation was told that the Alliance does not invite: countries must submit an application themselves. To this, Putin replied that Russia “will not stand in line with many other insignificant countries.”
The publication also recalled Putin's interview twenty years ago – one of the first in the presidency. Then the head of the aggressor country did not rule out Russia's joining NATO if “Moscow's interests are viewed as the interests of an equal partner.” Putin also said that he does not see NATO as an enemy of the Russian Federation.
“Russia is part of European culture. And I cannot imagine my country in isolation from Europe and what we often call the civilized world,” he said Putin 21 years ago.
As you can see, now the political views of Vladimir Putin have changed dramatically. The Kremlin is pursuing an aggressive policy towards the countries of the former USSR, Russia illegally annexed Crimea and is waging a war in Donbass, and before that, in 2008, it was conducting armed aggression against Georgia. Putin regards the collective West as an enemy for Russia.
Recall that Vladimir Putin called the NATO military presence in Ukraine a “threat” to Russia .
