On April 4, 1949, NATO was established with 12 founding members
They are: United States, Canada, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Portugal and Italy
NATO has a large number of nuclear weapons, conventional forces, and is a military organization in the West, with the initial purpose of containing the socialist forces in the East led by the former Soviet Union
In response to NATO, the former Soviet Union, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, and the then GDR eight countries signed the Warsaw Pact on May 14, 1955
Before the end of the Cold War in 1991, NATO membership increased to 16: Greece, Turkey, the Federal Republic of Germany, Spain
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, NATO has been expanding eastward, and today there are 30 NATO members
NATO's continuous eastward expansion has put great pressure on Russia to make strategic adjustments
Russia's previous "flattery" of the West as much as possible has changed to a thoroughly tough attitude. Putin said directly in the news: "Ukraine has never been a real country, but was created by Russia." Ukraine was separated from Russia by Stalin and Lenin, and it is now up to the point of correction. "Directly negating the existence of Ukraine as a country, the tone is simple and rude, and there is no dragging mud and water."
Nato's game with Russia is also a continuation of the game between Western countries and the former Soviet Union
Until 2014, Ukraine had been torn between pro-American and pro-Russian
The two most typical factions: one is the pro-Russian faction that is widely recognized in eastern Ukraine. They consider themselves Russians, pro-Russian in political leanings, and even advocate direct membership in Russia. Representatives of this category are Viktor Yanukovych, a former Ukrainian president from Donetsk
The other faction is Ukrainian nationalists, who identify with the Ukrainian state and hate separatism in eastern Ukraine. The political proposition of such people is to carry out historical liquidation of the Soviet Union and Russia, to crack down on pro-Russian elements, and to join the European Union and to be close to Western Europe and the United States politically. Such figures are represented by another former president of Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko
After the Crimean referendum, Ukraine accelerated its closer to Western Europe
If Ukraine joins NATO, Belarus will be surrounded and eventually fall to NATO under the pressure of economic sanctions and color revolutions
This is what Russia does not want to see, for the big countries, losing the geographical buffer boundary, domestic peace and development will be threatened, Ukraine can not join NATO, this is Russia's bottom line
Ukraine has a population of 41.58 million, 130 ethnic groups, 77.8% Of Ukrainians and 17.3% of Ethnic Russians
Ukraine owns 2/3 of the country's black land, accounting for 1/4 of the world's total black land, fertile soil, making Ukraine the world's third largest grain exporter, The granary of Europe
In addition, Ukraine is rich in mineral resources and industrially developed. In the era of the planned economy of the Soviet Union, it has always been the industrial center of the entire Soviet Union. Especially in the fields of shipbuilding and aerospace, Ukraine has a large number of large machinery production lines
In March 2014, Crimea voted to join Russia
Russia's de facto control of Crimea is fundamentally to ensure the security of the Black Sea Fleet, and then control the Turkish Strait and go out of the Mediterranean to deal with the US 6th Fleet
If Ukraine joins NATO and Russia does not control Crimea, the Black Sea Fleet will be locked
There are two clear requirements for joining NATO:
1. Must not be in a state of belligerence;
2. There shall be no territorial disputes.
According to the current development of the situation, on the evening of February 24, Russian troops had arrived in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, and the international community still underestimated Putin's determination to liberate the Ukrainian crisis in one fell swoop
On the 25th local time, Ukrainian President Zelenskiy said that he had asked the leaders of 27 European countries whether Ukraine could join NATO, but they had not received a reply.
In response, Zelenskiy said that the West has completely abandoned Ukraine.
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