Word: nato
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...fact, Yeltsin's aides say, he did not assent to NATO expansion. Russians of every political stripe hate the idea that next July their former Warsaw Pact allies, most likely Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, will be invited to join NATO by 1999. But Yeltsin can see that it is inevitable and is determined to squeeze the best possible deal out of the West in return for grudging tolerance. Russia hopes to make the whole process so difficult that the first three new members of the Atlantic alliance might turn out to be the last...
Washington insists that NATO "enlargement" (not expansion, which sounds pushy) will "remain on track" no matter how much it upsets Moscow. Still, Clinton offered Yeltsin a menu of sweeteners called the "three nos." NATO has "no intention, no plan and no reason" to deploy nuclear weapons in new member states. The same goes for combat troops. And Russia will be invited to sit in a joint council at NATO headquarters to talk about whatever the alliance...
That's forward thinking, but Moscow has an oversupply of yesterday's men who are concerned about Russia's security above all. If NATO expands, says Sergei Yushenkov, one of parliament's leading defense experts, START II, "is dead. There is no chance it will be ratified by the Duma...
Foreign Minister Yevgeni Primakov had been touring NATO capitals demanding a formal treaty between the alliance and Moscow. Yeltsin is looking for ironclad promises that the West will never move nuclear weapons and reinforcements into, say, Poland. Clinton has said no--that would give Moscow a veto over NATO decisions. Washington hopes Moscow will settle for a handsomely bound set of assurances, solemnly signed at a summit this spring...
Taking Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic into the alliance will, however, require a new NATO treaty that will have to be ratified by all member states. It will include the present Article Five, which declares that an attack on any member will be an attack on all and in effect commits their armed forces to the defense of the endangered country. The treaty comes with a price tag. Various estimates put the total cost of bringing three new members into the fold at anywhere from $35 billion over 13 years (the Clinton Administration estimate) up to a high...