We Used to Talk About Russia Joining NATO
In December 1991, Boris Yeltsin, President of Russia, sent a letter to NATO asking it to consider accepting Russia as a member of the alliance sometime in the future …
During a series of interviews with filmmaker Oliver Stone, President Vladimir Putin said that he suggested Russia joining NATO to President Bill Clinton when he visited Moscow in 2000.
Putin said in a BBC interview … in 2000 that it was hard for him to see NATO as an enemy: “Russia is part of the European culture. And I cannot imagine my own country in isolation from Europe and what we often call the civilized world.” …
On 5 March 2000 … asked if Russia might ever join NATO, [Putin] replied: “I do not see why not.” …
In response to a March 2009 suggestion by Polish foreign minister Radosław Sikorski that Russia join NATO, the Russian envoy to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, said … “Great powers don’t join coalitions, they create coalitions. Russia considers itself a great power.”