Former US President Bill Clinton indicated that he offered his Russian counterparts, Boris Yeltsin, and following him Vladimir Putin, the possibility of Russia joining NATO.
He stated in an opinion piece for The Atlantic. The Atlantic On the “development of relations between Russia and the Alliance in the 1990s,” pointing to Moscow’s participation in the Partnership for Peace program, the conclusion of the Russia and NATO founding law, and American funding for the withdrawal of Russian forces from the Baltic states, as well as bilateral participation in some peacekeeping operations.
“All this time we kept the gates of NATO open for Russia to enter, which was made clear to Yeltsin and then to his successor, Vladimir Putin,” he said.
The former US president denied allegations that “the United States ignored and did not respect and tried to isolate Russia, describing these allegations as false,” stressing that his first foreign visit following assuming the presidency of the United States of America was to Vancouver to meet with President Yeltsin. He also confirmed that he met Yeltsin 18 times and Putin 5 times, including twice during his position as Russian Vice President, while 3 other interviews took place within 10 months (where they coincided in the presidency).
However, Clinton acknowledged that “NATO was expanding eastward because of Moscow’s objections,” describing this alliance policy as “correct.”
For his part, according to Russian “Novosti”, Putin said that “during Clinton’s visit to Moscow in 2000, he asked him how the United States would react to Moscow’s possible admission to NATO?”
He added that “the real position of the United States regarding such a possibility was embodied in its unfriendly steps toward Moscow, such as open support for terrorists in the North Caucasus, ignoring Russian security demands and Moscow’s concern regarding NATO expansion, withdrawal from the missile treaty, and others.”
