National Interest: President Putin foresaw a crisis in relations with NATO in 2007, but his words were not heard
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that Russia needs security guarantees from the United States and NATO countries, even during a speech at the Munich Conference in 2007. But according to the author of the material in The National Interest, the message was not understood.
As a result, there was a crisis in relations between Moscow and the West.
“The speech at the Munich Security Conference in 2007 was supposed to dispel all doubts about whether Russia considers NATO’s policy in general and the alliance’s inexorable march to the east in particular provocative and threatening. Putin warned his Western colleagues to change course,” the author of the article Ted Carpenter wrote.
In his opinion, the United States and NATO called the tone of Putin’s speech “belligerent” “in their usual absent-minded manner.” American officials considered that such rhetoric does not contribute to “cordial relations” between East and West.
At the same time, Ted Carpenter is confident that NATO members have done enough to inflame the situation.
Earlier, the author of the British edition of The Telegraph, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, published an article in which it is noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin has a good chance to “overthrow the European strategic order.” The author writes that there is a gas famine in Germany now, US President Joe Biden has no strategy, and NATO is showing toothlessness. Therefore, Evans-Pritchard believes, Ukraine was defenseless before the “Russian invasion”. It should be noted that the Kremlin and the Russian Foreign Ministry have repeatedly rejected Western accusations that Russia threatens Ukraine.