Russia vs NATO in Ukraine:

GS Paper 2:

Topics Covered: Important International institutions, agencies and fora, their structure, mandate.

Context:

Russia has stationed more than 1,00,000 troops at its border with aspiring NATO member Ukraine.

What’s the issue? What are the demands by Russia?

• Russia stated that only if NATO withdraws their forces from all countries in Europe that joined the alliance after May 1997, would they de-escalate the military build-up.
• This would effectively mean that NATO cannot operate in any of the Baltic nations that border Russia (Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania), central European states such as Poland, Hungary, and the Czech republic, and Balkan states such as Croatia and Slovenia.
• Russia also wants NATO to drop plans of any further ‘enlargement’, which means committing to not accepting Ukraine and Georgia as members. Another demand is that NATO must not hold drills in eastern Europe, Ukraine and Georgia without prior approval from Russia.

Response from the west:

1. The U.S and NATO officials have bluntly stated that Russia’s proposals are unrealistic. They insist that Ukraine and every other country has the right to determine its own foreign policy.
2. Citing the principle of sovereignty, they insist that Ukraine, and every other country in eastern Europe, has the right to determine its foreign policy without outside interference and join whichever alliance it wants.
3. They have also dismissed the idea of Russia wielding veto power over who gets to become a member of NATO, and pointed out that NATO would not take decisions affecting eastern Europe without involving the countries concerned.

To know more about the Ukraine Issue, read this.

About North Atlantic Treaty Organization:

• It is an intergovernmental military alliance.
• Established by Washington treaty.
• Treaty that was signed on 4 April 1949.
• Headquarters — Brussels, Belgium.
• Headquarters of Allied Command Operations — Mons, Belgium.

Composition:

• Since its founding, the admission of new member states has increased the alliance from the original 12 countries to 30. The most recent member state to be added to NATO was North Macedonia on 27 March 2020.
• NATO membership is open to “any other European state in a position to further the principles of this Treaty and to contribute to the security of the North Atlantic area.”

Insta Curious:

Germany has warned Russia that the Nord Stream pipeline would be stopped if they were to invade Ukraine. Where is the Nord Stream pipeline? Reference: read this.

InstaLinks:

Prelims Link:

1. NATO- genesis and headquarters.
2. What is NATO Allied Command Operations?
3. Who can become members of NATO?
4. Overview of the Washington Treaty.
5. Countries surrounding the North Atlantic Ocean.
6. Latest NATO member.

Mains Link:

Discuss the objectives and significance of NATO.

Sources: the Hindu.